Three Perpich Students Recognized with 2024 National Scholastic Art & Writing Awards

L to R: National Scholastic honorees Julia Pauly (Visual Arts 2025), Grace Lampi (Visual Arts 2024), Vivian Sandquist (Visual Arts 2024)

June 24, 2024

The nonprofit Alliance for Young Artists & Writers has announced its 101st annual class of National Medalists in the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards—the nation’s longest running and most prestigious program for creative teens in grades 7-12. Perpich Arts High School is thrilled to announce that three students received national recognition! Julia Pauly (Visual Arts 2025) received a Silver Medal, Grace Lampi (Visual Arts 2024) received a Silver Medal, and Vivian Sandquist (Visual Arts 2024) received an Honorable Mention for her portfolio.

Julia Pauly’s piece, “Finding Myself”, was made on Procreate. The digital work “represents how I struggle to visualize what I look like,” Pauly wrote in her artist statement. “In this piece I’m struggling to paint myself, surrounded by a collection of sketches, paintings, collages, etc. All of them are unfinished intentionally, with all of the faces being unclear. I’m trying to discover how to properly express my image, only to find that nothing is working.”

Julia Pauly’s piece, “Finding Myself”

Julia credits her educators at Perpich and her art teacher, Ms. Williams, at Central High School in Norwood Young America for this experience. It was Ms. Williams that recommended Julia look into attending Perpich. “I’m so thankful for the opportunity that Perpich has given me to get my art out there. I hope that this is just the start.”

Vivian Sandquist’s portfolio, “Automata”, included six pieces which experimented with the combinations of engineering and art. “Combining these two elements can be both frustrating and fulfilling,” said Sandquist. “Science and art are often seen as opposing forces and I thoroughly enjoyed bringing these two together in my art to create an uncommon pairing. In my artwork, I find it very important to include interactive elements. I love the idea of my artwork having a purpose and being something that people can connect with. I hope my artwork’s playful attitude will help people to let down their guard and live a little more childlike.”

One of the pieces in Vivian Sandquist’s portfolio, “Automata”

“I am incredibly honored to receive this award,” said Sandquist. “It’s super exciting and a much greater recognition than I would have expected to receive. Putting together a portfolio was much more difficult than I initially anticipated. With the documenting of work, recording of individual artwork details and descriptions, and both personal and artistic statements, it became a challenging project and I take pride in having continued. The skills practiced in this submission are ones that I foresee being important in a future artistic career. Learning that I received this award just made me very happy and was a strong confidence boost. I think so many artists are deserving of that sort of direct recognition of their workmanship but never receive it, so I will not take this for granted. Huge shout out to my teachers and those in my life around me who pushed me to experiment with my art and helped me find my ever-changing style and voice.”

Kathryn D’Elia, Visual Arts Instructor and Studio Arts Chair, said, “Congratulations to our 23/24 Scholastics National Award winners! All Perpich Studio Arts students prepare and submit artwork to our regional competition each year. It’s fantastic practice for applying for future artistic opportunities, and gives them a chance to have their hard work recognized. Those entries are judged by three artist professionals and assigned awards based on technical skill, concept, and emergence of a personal voice and are assigned an award level- Honorable Mention, Silver, and Gold. Works that receive a Gold Key award on the regional level are sent to the national competition, and are judged with all other Gold Keys from across the country. I am proud of the work created at Perpich. Award recognized or not, our students are pushing and growing their skills with each artwork they make. However, it is absolutely wonderful to have our artists’ work celebrated on a national scale, especially after the submission challenges of this past year. This year, this practice took not just technical skill, strong ideas, personal voice; it also took a lot of patience and follow through as we navigated the trials of a new application process.”

Grace Lampi’s piece, “The Glass Grove”

Rebecca Bullen, Perpich Arts High School Principal, said, “It is an amazing accomplishment to be recognized as a National Scholastics Award winner. These awards recognize the personal and creative voice of our students, as well as the hard work their educators put into their growth and development as artists. I am proud of all of our students for submitting and our teachers for getting them there.”

Julia Pauly is from Norwood Young America, MN and is the child of Carrie and Brian Pauly. She previously attended Central High School in Norwood Young America, MN.

Grace Lampi is from Hermantown, MN and is the child of Nicole and Matthew Lampi. They previously attended Hermantown High School in Hermantown, MN.

Vivian Sandquist is from St. Paul, MN and is the child of Greta and David Sandquist. She previously attended Nova Classical Academy in St. Paul, MN.

This year, more than 110,000 teens from U.S. territories, Canada, and every state in the nation earned national recognition for their art and writing, joining the ranks of esteemed Awards alumni including Tschabalala Self, Stephen King, Kay WalkingStick, Amanda Gorman, Charles White, Joyce Carol Oates, Andy Warhol, and more.

Chris Wisniewski, Executive Director of the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, said: “The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards have always strived to recognize the creative potential of our nation’s young artists and writers by providing them with a platform to explore and experiment, and it has been incredible to see how this year’s class of National Medalists has articulated their creative visions in such intriguing and novel ways.”

For 101 years, the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards have been a safe space for teens to fearlessly explore their creative abilities and interests. The program has validated and championed teen voices and has served as a launching pad for bolstering students’ artistic and literary futures by providing them with access to scholarship programs and workshops, as well as the ability to have their work published and displayed in regional and national exhibitions. To learn more, and to find a complete list of the 2024 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards national award winners, visit: artandwriting.org.

About the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards
Founded in 1923, the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards are presented by the 501(c)3 nonprofit organization the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, and are made possible through the generosity of Scholastic Inc., BLICK Art Materials, New York Life Foundation, The Maurice R. Robinson Fund, Command Companies, The Herb Block Foundation, Lindenmeyr Book Publishing Papers, Quad, public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, Bloomberg Philanthropies, National Endowment for the Arts, The New York Times, and numerous other individual, foundation, and corporate funders; and, for the National Student Poets Program, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, The Hearthland Foundation, and Academy of American Poets.

For more information about the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, visit www.artandwriting.org. Additional details about the Awards can be found in the Scholastic media room: http://mediaroom.scholastic.com/artandwriting.