Iliana Walter from Lindhurst High School won a Gold Medal and American Visions Medal for her painting, “Passion.” Courtesy photo

MARYSVILLE, CA (MPG) - The results are in! After celebrating all our Northern California Affiliate regional winners on Jan. 25, the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers (aka Scholastic Art & Writing Awards) has just announced its 2025 national winners.

National winners included five winners from our region, including from Lindhurst High School and the Marysville Charter Academy for the Arts.

Here’s a list of the national winners. Iliana Walter from Lindhurst High School won a Gold Medal and American Visions Medal for her painting titled “Passion.” Taea Seigler from Marysville Charter Academy for the Arts won a Silver Medal in the novel writing category for “A Love as Gentle as It Could’ve Been.”  Van Sun from Davis High School won a Gold Medal and American Voices award for her short story, “Life in Paradise.” Harlan Riley from Truckee High School won two Gold Medals for his drawings “The Little Things” and “A Thicket of Thorns and Roses.”

 

Iliana Walter is a junior at Lindhurst High School. Courtesy photo

The national winners are invited to attend the national ceremony in New York City in June. 

Walter is a junior at Lindhurst High School. Walter said she fell in love with painting in seventh-grade and has submitted to the Scholastic Arts Competition ever since middle school,winning numerous regional gold and silver medals. This is her first national Gold Medal and American Visions Medal.

“Creating art gives me a voice, and I hope that others can relate to my pieces and find a voice themselves. Take your art seriously, have fun and great things will happen,” said Walter.

Seigler is a senior at Marysville Charter Academy for the Arts. She has been writing since childhood when her “writing” consisted of crayon scribbles on construction paper. The writing she submitted is a part of her novel which she hopes to get published one day. In the fall, she will attend California Polytechnic University, Humboldt and major in journalism. 

Now in its seventh year as the Northern California affiliate for the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards program, Yuba Sutter Arts & Culture received more than 200 submissions this year in both art forms. And, yes, this is Scholastic like the publishing company that puts on the book fairs at schools from which kids get a bit of that old-time bookstore experience. 

Since 1923, the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards have recognized the vision, ingenuity and talent of our nation’s youth. Join us as we celebrate the winners at this annual gathering of students, educators, supporters and the general public.  Scholastic Awards alumni include Andy Warhol, Sylvia Plath, Truman Capote, Lena Dunham, Robert Redford, Joyce Carol Oates and many others. 

 

Taea Seigler is a senior at Marysville Charter Academy for the Arts. Courtesy photo

Earning a Scholastic art or writing award is often the first moment of validation for a young artist or writer and can function as a catalyst that leads to a lifelong commitment to develop and apply their creative gift, no matter what career or path they choose. The program helps celebrate the accomplishments of creative students, extending opportunities for recognition, exhibition, publication, and scholarships to teenagers who demonstrate exceptional aptitude in writing and art. We feel that now, more than ever, it is important to recognize creative accomplishments and provide students with the support and resources they need to make creativity a lifelong pursuit. Encourage any creative young people you know to participate in next year’s Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. Watch Yubasutterarts.org or social media for details and updates in the fall. 

Yuba Sutter Arts is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to provide arts programming, education, advocacy, assistance and service to artists, organizations and residents of Yuba and Sutter counties. The local affiliate for Yuba and Sutter of the California Arts Council, its programs include Arts in Education, Veterans Initiatives in the Arts, Arts in Corrections, Yuba-Sutter Big Band, Center Stage Youth Performing Arts, Convergence Theater Co. and more.