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 four age categories: Lower Elementary (K-2), Upper Elementary (3-5), Middle, and High School

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

• Winners will be announced on February 17, 2026.

• 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 (more info about each judge will be added soon!):

• 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.

• Judging rubrics will soon be added here - check back closer to January 1st.
  

Submissions will be collected via a Google form. The form will be activated on January 1st. Check back then!

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