Two GISD Students Earn National Medals at Scholastic Art & Writing Awards

Georgetown High School (GHS) sophomore Amity Wann and East View High School (EVHS) senior Kelechi Okoye were nationally recognized at the 2024 Scholastic Art and Writing Awards for their art entries.

Wann’s photography piece “Keep Close” and Okoye’s short film “The Storm” both earned National Gold Medals, a rare and high accomplishment. 

Out of the more than 340,000 Scholastic Art & Writing entries, just 8% received national medals.

“I was shocked when I found out,” Okoye said. “It took a few days to process before I finally said ‘Wow, okay, I really just won this award.’ ”

Okoye, inspired by childhood cartoons and short films on Youtube, played with unique animation styles and voiced main characters in his film to add his own elements of humor. While Wann, with an affection for photography, played with lighting and interesting visuals to evoke emotion with her piece.

“I took the photo on a whim for a class assignment that asked us to portray emotion through hands,” Wann said. “I wanted to do something cool and expressive, and I ended up loving the end result.”

Along with recognition in Scholastic Art & Writing publications, Okoye and Wann will have an opportunity to showcase their work in a student exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City in the fall.

Presented by the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards competition is the longest-running, most prestigious recognition program for creative teens. You can learn more about the competition at https://www.artandwriting.org/.

Amity’s “Keep Close”

You can view Kelechi’s short film “The Storm” here.