Each year, more than 300,000 visual and written works are submitted for the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards, a prestigious national competition whose past winners include Stephen King and Andy Warhol.

The competition starts off with a regional round, where students grades 7-12 can win Gold Keys, Silver Keys, honorable mentions or more distinctive awards. Gold Key winners then move on to the national round, where another panel of judges select national Gold, Silver and honorable mention winners.

So far, one SHS student is known to have won awards for their works. Lucy Du ’20 won two Gold Keys with her submissions, Self Portrait and My Grandpa’s Hands. We interviewed Du to learn about her passion for art.

Lucy Du ’20

What are your focuses in art?

I mostly focus on 2D fine arts such as drawing and painting. I work in various mediums, such as charcoal, acrylic, and oil.

When did your passion for art start? What makes it continue?

I think like many other fellow artists, I started art as soon as I learned how to hold a pencil. It wasn’t a single moment in my life when I suddenly decided I wanted to start it. I simply started because I liked putting my pencil on the paper (and sometimes the wall) to create shapes, and continued for the same reason. The better I got, the more I wanted to push myself to see where I could go. Overtime, art developed into a form of expression for me. I like it because art is a language where I am able to convey things I otherwise wouldn’t be able to say in words.

What work/preparation went into creating your pieces?

The core to every artwork is not just the technical skills, but how the piece connects to the audience. In order to create meaningful art, I first had to brainstorm an idea that I liked [and] was unique, and I [needed] to successfully render it. After that, it was a few days solely dedicated to working on my pieces in the studio.

What are your next goals as an artist?  

Winning the Scholastic Competition is a very high honor, and I am very thankful that I have been given the opportunity to achieve so much. However, it is my belief that art is not defined by a competition. Art is subjective to the viewer, and a panel of judges cannot possibly hope to pick one clear winner. Just because I have won these awards does not mean that I have even come close to being where I wish to be as an artist. In the future, I wish to not only bring my art to the public, but to also change the world for the better and leave an impact.

View a full list of 2018’s Gold Key winners here.