Press Releases

Monterey, Calif. - June 3, 2005 - Zack Tills, an eighth grade student at Santa Catalina Lower School, received the prestigious National Gold Award in the Computer Art and Digital Imagery category of the 2005 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. His winning entry may be viewed online at SCS News on Santa Catalina's website: www.santacatalina.org

The award winners will be honored at a gala celebration at Carnegie Hall in New York City on Thursday, June 2.  His work, titled "Forgotten" illustrates a wooden stool and will be displayed at the prestigious Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. from June 18 through August 8. Susan Kendall, Zack's computer teacher, will attend the celebration in New York, along with the Tills' family.

The annual contest receives 200,000 works of art and 50,000 manuscripts from 80 regional programs and the "Region-at-Large" categories across the United States. Of those entries, 20,000 works of art and writing are forwarded onto national adjudication. From these finalists, approximately 650 works of art are bestowed national awards.

The Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, a non-profit organization, was formed in 1994 to build a network of support for aspiring young American artists and writers through the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. Since 1923, the Awards have rewarded the creative achievements of students in grades 7-12 and to also recognize excellence in teaching. Some early award winners included Richard Avedon, Truman Capote, Joyce Carol Oates, Sylvia Plath, Andy Warhol and Robert Redford.

For more information about Santa Catalina School, please call 655.9366 or visit www.santacatalina.org.

Santa Catalina School is dedicated to the education of young people between the ages of 5-18 by giving careful consideration to the individual abilities and potential of each child. The school's mission is to balance intellectual growth with spiritual awareness, creativity with order, and individuality with compassion. Santa Catalina School is enriched by the diversity of socioeconomic, religious, geographic and cultural backgrounds represented by students and faculty. The all-girls Upper School includes boarding students from 16 states and 8 countries. Local students in the co-ed Lower School and the Upper School come from the Central Coast, Gilroy, King City, Santa Cruz, San Jose and Santa Clara.