<p>A couple of years ago when my S entered, I had reason to contact the organzation directly, regarding my son's entrance materials. They told me that the largest portion send their materials in the last couple of weeks, so they are probably deluged right now.
But I wouldn't hesitate to email them and make sure everyting is ok. They are very nice people and sincerely want to give every entrant a chance.</p>
<p>This afternoon, I found out that I'm a writing finalist! I'm still kind of in shock, but very, very excited. Would someone involved in youngARTS in the past mind sharing a little about the Arts Week experience?</p>
<p>Congrats to you! That is a major achievement! Best wishes. I am sure Arts Week will be phenomenal.</p>
<p>Congrats!! You SHOULD BE very excited!! My daughter was a finalist in Musical Theatre this past year. (She received an Honorable Mention the year before and was able to apply again the next year because of her age). When she returned from Arts Week, she told me she could never have imagined what a great experience it was going to be. It was the first time she had ever been surrounded by persons her own age that had the same kind of passion for their art that she had. She was truly amazed!</p>
<p>Congratulations! I am assuming you got a phone call.
Does anyone know if all of the categories have been notified already?</p>
<p>Yes, cpq I'm wondering that too. I'm anxiously awaiting my results and had just assumed that since person in writing got their call, all of them had been made. Is there anyone for spoken only or spoken/musical theatre that's received any info on their results? Thanks! Also does anyone know when/if the info will be available online?</p>
<p>My son's entry was film and he hasn't heard anything. Last year the finalists were notified about 2 weeks before the letters went out. The email from NFAA confirming the receipt of DS's materials said the results would be out mid-December.
What I don't know is whether the calls are staggered by category or if they are all made on the same day.</p>
<p>I would guess that the calls were all made within a 1-2 day period. The deadline for all finalists to notify NFAA whether or not they will attend Arts Week was today--it came very fast. Judging by last year, I'd also guess that everyone will get their results very soon.</p>
<p>What about those who received merit awards? What is the deadline to notify them? Do they find out before the Dec. 15th deadline? Or before everyone else?</p>
<p>At my old highschool 6 kids in theatre have just heard (4 MT,2 spoken word). The last one heard today. And all the other music, film, and visual artists have heard too.
The people that received merit and honorable mention, only found out by letter a few months later!</p>
<p>Six at one school? That's seems a little stacked against the rest of the country....</p>
<p>Well, the tapes are judged without knowledge of a student's location and background. We generally have 3-6 for theatre every year.</p>
<p>chrissyblu....here is my opinion, for what it is worth....
My D participated in NFAA four years ago and got a Merit Award. I noticed in looking at the winners of the various awards that there were quite a number of them from particular high schools. These were always performing arts high schools. I think there are two reasons for that. One is that there is a concentration of talent in those specialized high schools. The other reason is that it is obvious the kids in those high schools know about NFAA and enter and likely even get some guidance in entering. </p>
<p>Contrast that with my D's experience here in rural VT attending a regular public high school. NOBODY from our ENTIRE state won ANY awards in ANY category that year but my D. The only reason we even knew about NFAA was from reading about it on CC! :) Since my D was preparing audition materials for college admissions, we video taped a song and monologue on our own with no assistance or knowledge of our HS. She happened to win an award. We have a lot of great musicians at our HS and many, including my kid, have won top state awards in music, but none entered NFAA. We don't have the number of high talented kids as a specialized high school would have but the top talented kids (a handful) at our HS are on par with kids at these specialized high schools. Nobody here knows about NFAA and certainly the school did not help in any way with any of it. I imagine when the list of all winners comes out this year, it will be like the last few years I have seen where there are several winners from particular high schools. BRbway, you go to Interlochen, right? That explains it because each year there are many winners in several categories from your HS.</p>
<p>well, I guess if we haven't heard, we should assume no award?</p>
<p>Soozievt, do they tell the merit kids about it when they send the letters to everyone? The ones they are supposed to get out by Dec. 15th? </p>
<p>My daughter does go to a performing arts high school in S.D., but no one at her school did anything about NFAA or told us about it. I found out about it from that PBS special. The school plans to change that next year, but too late for us. </p>
<p>I know these are judged "on blind", but I'm a little curious when California seems so underrepresented in the results. Maybe it is because no one on the West Coast enters.</p>
<p>My son received a merit award in popular voice last year, and he got a letter during the first week of December. (To get a merit award, you must score 8 out of 10.)The next week he got a letter about his MT entry, and that he had scored 7 out of 10. Honorable mentions are 9 out of 10.</p>
<p>So probably the only ones that have been notified are the finalists going to Miami. Everyone else should be getting their letters soon.</p>
<p>Chrissy,
It was four years ago and I can't recall the exact date my D was notified but I did come across a copy of a letter she sent to a college to update them of any significant awards and activities since she had sent her application and in the letter I see dated Dec. 12, that she included that she had gotten the NFAA Award and so it implies to me that she had gotten it shortly before she sent that letter out. So, if things haven't changed, I would imagine such notification in the next week or so. If you said they said by Dec. 15, that sounds about right. It should be soon.</p>
<p>Like I said earlier, if a state seems underrepresented, it may be a reflection of who actually enters NFAA. The fact that there was only one winner in ANY category in my D's year from our state doesn't mean we don't have talented kids here!! I know quite a number of kids from just my region of the state who are attending BFA in MT programs. They didn't do NFAA.</p>
<p>There is one consistent thing with any repeated national competition for HS students. The more a school participates from year to year the better the students do over time. The coaches learn what works, the lore gets passed down from year to year from older to younger students and the culture focuses around what wins. More students enter. Nothing wrong with it, it just happens. </p>
<p>So those who have learned what wins have an advantage over equally talented who are not as familiar with the process. That does not explain all or that a talented new comer can't win, but there is a significant trend. I saw it in other areas where I have been a finals judge on various technical competitions. The longer a school had participated, the better their teams did year to year. Also, there are winners who have tried 2'x because of their age. They have an advantage, too.</p>
<p>That said, DD did participate on her own and did not place. She found it a very valuable experience anyhow and definitely good preparation for the audition season. We learned a lot through the process and after. It was noted in her auditions that she tried. The fact that she did not win had no impact on her college acceptances. If she did it again or I had another want to try it, I would know more about what is being looked at.</p>
<p>My D could have entered for three years due to her age. The year she got the award, she had turned 16 right around when she submitted the application/video, but that was also the equivalent to her "senior year" of high school. So, during her first two years of college, at 17 and 18, she was still eligible to enter and surely had more training under her belt but had no desire to participate any longer. I think it is a good experience just to enter and the student is preparing audition material for college anyway and just has to have one song and mono ready on the early side and can video it. That's all we did. Very amateur video (I made it). So, I think it is possible for anyone to have a chance at it.</p>
<p>I agree with you there, Singersmom. I have seen this over and over again in science competitions. The same schools dominate certain competitions year after year. You see the same teachers at all the competitions. The teachers get accolades because their students perform so well. These teachers know what it takes. Other kids can and do win, but it really helps to have the benefit of an experienced "coach."</p>