<p>In the past, I’ve received a gold and silver key in the scholastic art and writing competition. However, it is note-worthy that it gets more and more competitive each year as more and more kids submit their pieces.</p>
<p>This year, I received two gold keys and an honorable mention for my portfolio.</p>
<p>My question is, should I update them with these awards or will it make it look as if my art abilities declined since I’ve received gold in the past and now am getting silver?</p>
<p>Wow, you’ve heard already? In my region, awards aren’t announced until the first or second week of February. </p>
<p>Congrats on the awards!</p>
<p>And no, I don’t think your award will make you appear worse in any way. These awards are very competitive.</p>
<p>Aw, thanks! 
Goodluck to you</p>
<p>And I mean, percentage wise the difference between gold and silver are subtle…
Gold is top 7-10%
Silver is 10-15% of entries
HM is 15-20% of entries
it’s just I’m afraid itll look like my art itself got worse
like if I always got silver I don’t think more silver will detract.
Even if it doesn’t necessarily detract, would I be better off not informing the admissions about these awards?</p>
<p>Because, you have already demonstrated to Brown in your application that your art and/or writing is award worthy, I think it may be redundant to send an update of these particular new awards. But, I’m by no means qualified to advice you as to whether to send the update. I’d be curious as to what some others here advice you.</p>
<p>HAHA wow guys I made a really dumb typo in the first post sorry.
I meant to say two silver, not gold keys that I got this year.</p>
<p>It won’t look like your abilities declined at all. That would be a bit like saying getting two silver medals in an Olympics looks bad because you won a gold and silver the time before. I know this isn’t quite as restrictive as getting an Olympic medal, but it still represents high achievement. Besides, I could make an equal argument that an admissions review might say “I wonder if they didn’t enter at all this year?” if they see nothing. Probably not, but being active and showing what is obviously excellent talent is far more important to admissions than exactly what keys you won. They aren’t looking to separate people by how they placed nearly as much as they are giving you credit for simply doing the activity well.</p>
<p>My view is that the additional awards show that you are truly committed to what you are doing, that you didn’t somehow (if this is possible) get those other awards in order to pad your resume and then you stopped when your application went in.</p>
<p>If I were reviewing your application, it would perk up my interest. I would view you as a more authentic person for having done this.</p>
<p>Thanks for your input guys!
Oh, I should have mentioned…for this year I already won a national title for a different art contest (with the same piece that only won nothing in scholastic…just goes to show how subjective these things can be haha). So I mean, in terms of consistency, would telling them about the silver scholastic this year be redundant if I already have a different title this year? :/</p>
<p>If you’re going to send an update, I guess I would try to include everything in just one update. I would update just once, and be as clear and concise as possible.</p>
<p>My daughter left several awards and other stuff OFF her application in order to bring a sharper focus to what she wanted Brown to learn about her.</p>
<p>From Brown’s web site: </p>
<p>"You should include the achievements that make you feel particularly proud or that help to demonstrate your talents and interests. Keep in mind that a judiciously selected sampling may make a stronger impression than an exhaustive list.</p>
<p>For academic awards, please include enough detail so that we will understand the context of your accomplishment. For example, if you have won a poetry contest or placed high in a math competition, let us know in general terms the number of entrants or competitors and whether your award is an individual or a team achievement."</p>
<p>Agreed. IMO you are overthinking this, and maybe you don’t quite have a feel for how admissions looks at these things. Which is understandable. With thousands of applications to review, they just are not scrutinizing your application to the extent you seem to think they might. Just let them know that you won the silvers in the one competition, the national title in the other competition, and leave it at that. Whatever details you leave to them to fill in, they will put the best spin on them. It is in their nature.</p>