Katy ISD Students Advance to National Arts Competition

June 06 2024

Sixty-one Katy ISD secondary students have advanced to the national Scholastic Art & Writing Awards competition — the nation’s longest running and most prestigious recognitions program for creative teens.

These students earned 70 Gold Keys at the regional competition, with six students receiving Gold Key medals for multiple creative pieces.

“It is a testament to our fine arts program that these students are being considered for national honors in such a prestigious competition,” said G. Damon Archer, Executive Director of Fine Arts. “Our students’ natural talent is nurtured by passionate educators and this is just one example of much-deserved recognition.”

Source: Katy ISD

Each year, the Harris County Department of Education, which hosts the regional competition, welcomes art submissions in the following categories: architecture and industrial design; ceramics and glass; comic art; design; digital art; drawing and illustration; editorial cartoon; expanded projects; fashion; film and animation; jewelry; mixed media; painting; photography; printmaking; and sculpture. The competition also recognizes writing submissions in critical essay; dramatic script; flash fiction; journalism; humor; novel writing; personal essay and memoir; poetry; science fiction and fantasy; and short story.

National winners will be announced on June 12. More information about the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards can be found here.

The Katy ISD students that have advanced to national competition include:

Name	School	Category Name of Artwork
Asher Blut	Adams JH	Poetry Helping myself
Markus Brikho	Adams JH	Critical Essay Mars Exploration
Mason Krueger	Adams JH	Personal Essay & Memoir To Live Is To Hurt
Saakshi Kumar	Adams JH	Poetry Under the Stars
Micah Obonyano	Adams JH	Poetry The World WE Live in
Dishita Patil	Adams JH	Science Fiction Awakening of the Heir
Gina Shim	Adams JH	Science Fiction Is This Me?
Faizaan Syed	Adams JH	Short Story Ambrosial Alchemy
Arjun Yerreddu	Adams JH	Short Story WHODUNNIT
Matthew Wei	Beck JH	Short Story Echos in Reverse
Brenda Guzman Quesada	Haskett JH	Drawing & Illustration Stroke of Midnight
Kristina Tymianski	McMeans JH	Drawing & Illustration Joy with the Doctor
Aanisah Chiedozie	Morton Ranch JH	Poetry Fate Is Not Chosen
Tianqi Hu	Tays JH	Drawing & Illustration My little turtle
Anna Perry	Tays JH	Critical Essay AI: The Future of Education
Antonio Ygnacio	Tays JH	Drawing & Illustration Boys Best Friend
Nevaeh Gregory	Cinco Ranch HS	Painting Vivid
Dang Gia Vien Nguyen	Cinco Ranch HS	Painting Winter’s Craving
Michelle Lee	Cinco Ranch HS	Drawing & Illustration Game Over
Sofia Prada	Cinco Ranch HS	Personal Essay & Memoir Let It Go
Mariya Shpui	Cinco Ranch HS	Personal Essay & Memoir Well; That’s It
Rachel Yun	Cinco Ranch HS	Personal Essay & Memoir If I Could Go Back In Time
Moemal Al-Wishah	Jordan HS	Poetry Silent Desolation
Manahil Ali	Jordan HS	Drawing & Illustration Tribal Threads
Manahil Ali	Jordan HS	Photography Eureka!
Reese Banister	Jordan HS	Poetry my home; it’s shared rooms.
Valeria Dumitrascu	Jordan HS	Painting Generations Connected
Valeria Dumitrascu	Jordan HS	Painting Cradle
Valeria Dumitrascu	Jordan HS	Drawing & Illustration The Domino Effect
Valeria Dumitrascu	Jordan HS	Painting Out of Reach
Zoe Guthrie	Jordan HS	Sculpture Is this better than before?
Arianna Hodge	Jordan HS	Poetry Fields of Awe
Charlotte Holmes	Jordan HS	Poetry See You Later
Jocelyn Johnson	Jordan HS	Poetry My Wheelchair
Krishi Kanani	Jordan HS	Mixed Media Patched Back Together
Addison McCurdy	Jordan HS	Drawing & Illustration Pocrescophobia
Charlotte Primrose	Jordan HS	Short Story Seasons change and skin age
Surya Reddy	Jordan HS	Critical Essay Premedical Weed-Out Courses: An Impact Analysis
Alejandra Rincon	Jordan HS	Drawing & Illustration Deconstructed
Amanda Stone	Jordan HS	Drawing & Illustration To a Flame
Antara Varma	Jordan HS	Poetry A Eulogy: Survivor’s Edition
Edlyn Wang	Jordan HS	Flash Fiction Delusion
Edlyn Wang	Jordan HS	Short Story Mudlark
Arthur Whittle	Jordan HS	Photography Unveiling
Catherine Xu	Jordan HS	Poetry you saw tragedy / in me
Yule Yi	Jordan HS	Drawing & Illustration Endless Ethereality
Grace Zhang	Jordan HS	Personal Essay & Memoir A Progression on Grief
Kailee Talton	Katy HS	Drawing & Illustration Black Boy Blues
Kailee Talton	Katy HS	Drawing & Illustration The Weight Of Expectations
Kailee Talton	Katy HS	Drawing & Illustration When The Leaves Blow
Muhammad Rayyan Faisal	Mayde Creek HS	Photography Namaste
Aerial Chen	Seven Lakes HS	Film & Animation Eyes of the Artist
Simar Kalra	Seven Lakes HS	Painting Through The Flame of Self-Reflection
Sahara Karmaker	Seven Lakes HS	Film & Animation Misfits’ Casino
Melissa Matuk	Seven Lakes HS	Painting Iris
Natalie Reese	Seven Lakes HS	Mixed Media Charleston Weaver
Chanwoo Sinn	Seven Lakes HS	Drawing & Illustration The Industrial Woman
Holden Smith	Seven Lakes HS	Drawing & Illustration Game face
Dennis Wei	Seven Lakes HS	Drawing & Illustration Mundane Mornings
Ashley Yang	Seven Lakes HS	Mixed Media Spring Cleaning
Ziyun Yu	Seven Lakes HS	Photography Dinner
Deborah Chung	Taylor HS	Poetry how (not) to hide the fact that you’re depressed
Sophia Tang	Taylor HS	Poetry The Mind-Sea
Lincoln Brunnert	Tompkins HS	Drawing & Illustration Dream Land
Haofei Deng	Tompkins HS	Digital Art The Room Book Cover Concept
Haofei Deng	Tompkins HS	Photography Luminosity
Grace Ding	Tompkins HS	Poetry dead dove
Grace Ding	Tompkins HS	Poetry NOT A POEM
Brianna Lin	Tompkins HS	Comic Art A Thoughtless Struggle
Ankitaa Sampath	Tompkins HS	Drawing & Illustration Jigsaw of Memories