Two Perpich Students Recognized with 2025 National Scholastic Art & Writing Awards

April 7, 2025

The nonprofit Alliance for Young Artists & Writers has announced its 102nd 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 two students received national recognition! Nadia Oian Vust (Literary Arts 2025) received a Gold Medal and Jasper Vinge Hanson (Media Arts 2025) received a Silver Medal.

L to R: National Scholastic medalists Nadia Oian Vust (Literary Arts 2025) and Jasper Vinge Hanson (Media Arts 2025)

Nadia Oian Vust’s piece, “Somewhere Further than Space”, received a Gold Medal in the program and was written in her short story writing class at Perpich. In addition to thanking the instructor, Ryan Meaney, Nadia also said, “I’m very honored and grateful for my writing to be recognized, and excited to continue creating.”

“This story is not about my dad- he is alive and as well as he can be,” Oian Vust wrote in her artist statement. “Rather, I wrote it as a way to process loss and grief, recent and not so recent. It’s coming up on the two year anniversary of my uncle’s death, which feels both a decade ago and yesterday, and is ever present in my mind. There’s a sustained grip grief has, regardless of time and regardless of yourself, that although may loosen for a time, does not let go. When I think of, for example, my uncle, I do not see him weak, tired, and in a hospital bed. I see him laughing, reading, and sitting in his worn out recliner talking to family. Therefore, when I think of me next to him, I don’t see a seventeen year old me who’s last tangible memory of him was finding his memorial bulletin marking a page in a book. I think of when I was a young kid, perhaps eight, riding in the front seat of his pickup to go to church. This is what I hope to display in this piece, a strange form of limbo you get lost in. I attempted to convey this through phones. How the speaker recalls their dad’s habit of answering, and with logic only grief allows, calls him hoping he still somehow would.”

Kevin Lally, Literary Arts Instructor, has been Nadia’s teacher for the past two years. “I’m so happy that Nadia has received this well-earned recognition,” he said. “Nadia has developed an incisive voice, with which she captures profound and complex human experiences with simple, accessible language. Her writing reveals a sensitivity about sense and loss within and among the bright moments of life. She opens doors where one might feel only loss, allowing in an exquisite beauty that manages to be both sad and hopeful, beautiful and human. It is not Nadia’s first honor and it will certainly not be her last!”

Jasper Vinge Hanson’s piece, “Hands of Discomfort”

Jasper Vinge Hanson’s photography submission, “Hands of Discomfort”, received a Silver Medal in the program. “I never thought my photography would win an award like this, especially a photo I took messing around with my best friend,” said Jasper. He expanded on the process in his artist statement: “This darkroom print was an experimental photograph for me. I wanted to show emotion within a photograph without including a face. The angle of the photograph mixed with the pose of the hands elude a feeling of discomfort and nervousness. I wanted to include more emotion and connection in this piece so I chose to do it in the darkroom. Being able to work with my hands and spend more time on the piece allowed me to express the emotions I had originally envisioned.”

Khalid Ali, Media Arts Instructor, has taught Jasper for two years. “Jasper is one our most reliable and hardworking media students,” he said. “I’m happy to see him being recognized for his work.”

Elizabeth Flinsch, Media Arts Instructor, taught Jasper in photography class this year. “I am thrilled that Jasper is having his work recognized and awarded,” she said. “Jasper is a thoughtful and intuitive artist who puts in the extra work to push his ideas to their fullest potential. Though you are unlikely to hear him brag about it, he deserves every bit of this national recognition.”

Rebecca Bullen, Perpich Arts High School Principal, said, “Our students create every day, developing their skills and exploring ways to express their personal voice. It’s exciting to see their hard work noticed at a national level; these awards are something to be proud of! I am thrilled for both students and grateful for our amazing teachers who have encouraged them along the way.”

Nadia Oian Vust is from Eagle Lake, MN and is the child of Brenda & Gary Oian Vust. She previously attended Mankato East High School in Mankato, MN. Before that, she spent her freshman year online at Minnesota Virtual Academy.

Jasper Vinge Hanson is from Rochester, MN and is the child of Heather Vinge Hanson and Derek Hanson. He previously attended John Marshall High School in Rochester, MN.

This year, nearly 110,000 teens from U.S. territories, Canada, and every state in the nation participated in the Awards, entering more than 310,000 works for adjudication. Of the works entered, nearly 90,000 regional awards were presented to nearly 50,000 teens, and more than 2,800 works received National Medals. Esteemed alumni of the program include Tschabalala Self, Stephen King, Kay WalkingStick, Amanda Gorman, Charles White, Joyce Carol Oates, Andy Warhol, and more. As the nation’s longest-running scholarship and recognition program for creative teens in grades 7–12, the Awards honor the most exceptional talents across a variety of categories including, Painting, Flash Fiction, Photography, and Comic Art, to name a few. A celebration of all National Medalists will be held this June at Carnegie Hall in New York City.

For 102 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 2025 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 newsroom: https://www.scholastic.com/newsroom/online-press-kits/scholastic-art-writing-awards.html