AWE’s 4th Annual Arts & Writing Contest

Submissions will be accepted from January 1 - 31, 2026

Contest guidelines:

• Open to all K-12 students from Brownsville, Crozet, Ivy, Murray, Henley, and WAHS.

• Work will be judged by local professional artists and writers, based on three age categories: elementary, middle, high school.

• All submissions will be made digitally (see tips and guidelines below).

• Winners will be announced by the end of February.

• All participants will be invited to a Arts & Writing Contest reception.

• Winners' work will be featured in the AWE’s annual newspaper (distributed to all Western Albemarle families), honored at a special reception (date TBA), and recognized at ArtsFest (Friday, March 27)!



This year’s judges:

• Art: Kacie-Linn Engle & Warren Craighead

• Poetry: Suzannah Spaar & Charlotte Matthews

• Writing/Journalism: Jennifer Bryerton & Erin Rittenhouse

• Photography: Kim Powers & Rhonda Roebuck



Rules:

• One original submission per student (not AI-generated!). Each student may only enter one category.

• Try your best to take good photographs of your artwork!  Review these helpful tips here .

• Art and Photography will be judged based on: Creativity; Effort; Technique; and Impact. Writing will be judged on: Creativity; Expression; Structure; Language/Style; and Impact.
  A copy of the Judging Rubrics may be found on here.
  

Submit via the View Form button below!

Header image, detail from: “Oriental Dragon” by Jonathan Xu, 2025 Upper Elementary Art Honorable Mention