Scholastic Art Awards 

      By Alanna Contreras

New Rochelle High School students have done it again. Several students earned Gold Key and Honorable Mention awards as part of the 2026 Scholastic Art and Writing Awards, a nationally recognized program celebrating teen creativity.

Founded in 1923, the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards has inspired young artists and writers for over a century. Students in grades 7 through 12 are invited to submit original work across a wide range of categories, including photography, sculpture, painting, poetry, journalism, and fiction. This year, multiple students from NRHS's art department were recognized for their outstanding work. 

Gold Key recipients advance automatically to national adjudication, where they are considered for additional awards and scholarships, which will be announced in the spring. 

Naomi Shechter, an 11th grader, received a Gold Key for her painting Autophobia, a large-scale work inspired by a photograph of herself and her brother taken eight years ago. “My painting is based on a photograph of my brother and me,” Shechter explained. “The second I saw the image, I had a thousand meanings running through my head.” The piece depicts the two figures walking together towards a tree, surrounded by greenery, symbolizing what Shechter describes as “the pure love and comfort that comes from the people in your life.”

Shechter intentionally titled the painting after a phobia to contrast its message. “I have a habit of naming my paintings after phobias,” she said. “This painting is meant to counter its name and show how one can overcome the fear of being alone, even in such a big world.” Autophobia also marked a personal challenge for the artist. “I have always focused on small details,” Shechter shares, “so creating a painting of such a large size was something I had never done before.”

Shechter learned she had won the award unexpectedly while staying after school. “I had no prior knowledge of winning,” she said. “When I logged into my account, I was honestly astonished. Knowing it's being considered nationally is scary,” she admitted, “but I'm proud of the painting itself and grateful even for the regional award.”

Additionally, Mia Mendoza received an Honorable Mention in the newly introduced Editorial Cartoon category for her piece American Halloween, which was originally published in the Huguenot Herald. The comic critiques seasonal commercialism through a familiar scene. “I've made comics for a long time, but this one I felt passionately about,” Mendoza said. “I wanted to show the rush to sell everything for every season, especially in October, when Christmas decorations are already being sold.”

The comic depicts two young girls hoping to shop for Halloween, only to be confronted with overwhelming Christmas displays. “I wanted to address the normalization of commercialism that we go through every year during the holiday season,” Mendoza explained, adding that it was something that has always felt “ridiculous” to her. She also made intentional choices about how to convey the character's perspective. “I usually use captions or speech bubbles to show thought,” she noted, “but instead I included a notebook to show the girls are young, still in school, and already noticing how scary commercialism can be.” 

When she learned her work had been recognized, Mendoza described the moment as surprising, “I was honestly shocked,” she said. “I always felt that comics aren't recognized as much as other types of art.” Being acknowledged at a national level, she added, made her feel that “my art is worth being shown to the world.”