<p>@ReincarnatedPoet: Yeah, it’s sent in the packet but it’s pretty generic. It has your name at the top, but other than that, I think everyone receives the same one. It just explains to scholarships/schools what YA is, why it’s prestigious, famous alumni, etc.</p>
<p>Got home to a big, fat envelope today! Merit winner for writing (creative non-fiction). I live in New Jersey. My mom and I just went out for celebratory fro-yo!</p>
<p>@ReincarnatedPoet: The recommendation letter is literally one of the most generic things ever…at one point it refers to the winner as s/he, meaning they didn’t even differentiate by gender, etc. Definitely not the personalized one I wanted but I’m not going to get too greedy here! 
</p>
<p>Good luck to anyone else who is waiting! Don’t obsessively stalk boards like this - these will only get you more nervous. Remember you guys are all amazing and art is beyond subjective. Just because you don’t win this doesn’t mean that you can’t win another competition!</p>
<p>Why YoungArts is no way in this list?</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/high-school-life/302001-list-top-prestigious-awards-57.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/high-school-life/302001-list-top-prestigious-awards-57.html</a></p>
<p>^That is just one person’s opinion on the most “prestigious” awards available to high school students. For example, this user has listed a portfolio gold medal from the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards far above national Science Olympiad medals, which is definitely not the case.</p>
<p>Competitions are very subjective to begin with, and in no way can you compare, for example, ISEF with Scholastic. I think most would agree that in the fine arts, YoungArts is more selective than Scholastic, simply because Scholastic honors nearly two thousand national winners a year whereas YoungArts honors 700. I’ve done some research and come up with phrases like “YA is the Heisman Trophy of fine arts…” and “YA is the most prestigious competition for young artists,” but it’s impossible to quantify, and there’s not much use in trying.</p>
<p>@stephanieyay: Congratulations!</p>
<p>You’re definitely right in saying that art is subjective. It’s important to remember that YoungArts is – at the end of the day – just the opinion of one judging panel. As an artist, the important thing is that you create work you’re proud of, not necessarily work that wins every competition. Simply having the gumption to apply to something as big as YA is admirable.</p>
<p>@ForeverFish - Congrats on the award, and I definitely agree with what you said about competitions being highly subjective. I would argue, though, that you can’t even compare YoungArts and Scholastic when the mission of the two programs are so different. YoungArts tends to focus on finding great talent in the arts and grooming them to become future leaders, while Scholastic places a major emphasis on recognizing and encouraging developing artists and writers. That being said, Scholastic also received about 220,000 submissions this past year as compared to YoungArts’ 11,000. Scholastic recognizes somewhere around 2,500 works on the national level, placing the national winner rate at about 1.1%, whereas YoungArts, per your post yesterday, accepts about 6.3% of applicants. Based on statistics alone, it seems clear that winning a national Scholastic medal is actually MORE DIFFICULT than being recognized by YoungArts. </p>
<p>On a personal note, I’d add that while I have won a national gold medal in Scholastic, I did not win anything from YoungArts last year or this year (at least at this point). The SAME piece that won at Scholastic was rejected from YoungArts, and I know someone whose regional Scholastic silver keys got her an honorable mention from YoungArts. </p>
<p>The point of all this was just to help everyone remember that ultimately, every competition is looking for something different and your success in competitions DOES NOT DEFINE your value as a writer. </p>
<p>Okay, that’s the end of my rant. Please excuse the inevitable typos and grammatical errors. Fingers crossed that I hear from YA tomorrow, lol.</p>
<p>I agree with you about the distinctions between Scholastic and YA – as someone who’s done both, I’ve definitely noticed some differences.</p>
<p>I’d still say, despite the statistics, that YA is more rigorous. I’ve read on previous years’ threads that YA is less focused on raw talent and more focused on recognizing those artists who have already polished their craft to a considerable degree. Whether or not this is true is anyone’s guess; however, just from reading the winning writing pieces from last year, I can tell you that it’ll be a while before I’m at that level.</p>
<p>While it’s true that in statistical terms, Scholastic is more selective than YoungArts, you also have to consider the applicant pools for each. As others mentioned, YoungArts is definitely for those who have already attained a particular level, and the vast majority of its applicant pool attests to this. On the other hand, Scholastic receives a far greater number of entries and much of its applicant pool is comprised of artists/writers who are still developing, etc. I’m not saying that one is better than the other, but one is definitely more rigorous than the other.</p>
<p>Oh, another thing: Mickyleib, you mentioned the 1.1% statistic for the Scholastic national winners, but the 6.3% statistic for YoungArts encompasses honorable mentions, merits, AND finalists. For Scholastic, counting regional awards such as gold keys/silver keys would make that statistic a lot higher. Haha.</p>
<p>anyone applying from outside the U.S? :)</p>
<p>@ForeverFish – Congrats to you too! </p>
<p>I totally agree on all points stated so far. Scholastic and YoungArts are very, very different. I’m not sure how one compares with the other in respects to its level of prestige, but they are both wonderful honors to get and we shouldn’t undermine either of them. The memoir piece that won me the Merit recognition for YA got a silver key for Scholastic, but a poem that won me a silver key didn’t get me anything from YA. The contests are incredibly unpredictable, so if you are debating sending anything to the contests, don’t “not send” anything just because you aren’t in love with it (I almost didn’t apply Creative Non-fiction because I wasn’t confident of my piece anymore, how wrong I was). Don’t let any one contest bring you down and believe in yourself!</p>
<p>Honorable Mention in Popular Voice! Found out on the 16th, but I live in Miami so that is probably no help to you all. Fingers crossed for the best!</p>
<p>@brycedrew May I please know if you got a phone call first? or did you just receive the package in the mail? thanks.</p>
<p>Hello ArtistMonkey, I applied as an International Student and I have not heard anything yet. I am wondering if they are going to send the result letter to my permanent address in Mexico or to my boarding school address in the US, because if they are sending the letter to Mexico, it is going to take a while for me to get it…</p>
<p>This year the percent of people who were finalists in YA was about 1.6%. I would argue YA is among the most or most prestigious competitions in the country. At the very least, it has an enormous amount of influence in the music world</p>
<p>@dreamhuge I received a packet in the mail, no phone call.</p>
<p>Honorable Mention music, woodwinds here (clarinet) for 16y son. Dear son is sophomore, and this is the 2nd year he’s gotten an honorable mention. (late summer birthday, so he was 15 by application time last year and could apply as a freshman in high school).</p>
<p>Maybe next year…he really wants to go to the week long program in Miami. It just sounds like such a great experience. What does one need to do to close the gap between HM and Finalist status in classical music?! Is the problem that he isn’t a senior, so he doesn’t get priority, or is it an even competition no matter what your age?</p>
<p>But he received no email, just a packet in the mail today. Same as last year, but this year, there were more brochures and a dvd about the program.</p>
<p>@ArtisticMonkey I applied from Puerto Rico and I’m anxiously waiting a packet. The worst part is I’ve gotten so much mail and so many big letters this week it’s disappointment after disappointment.</p>
<p>Update: YA just sent me (and the other winners, I presume) email confirmation of my award and an invite to participate in Regional programs. So, yes, emails have officially gone out. :)</p>
<p>Well I haven’t received any confirmation at all so I’m assuming I didn’t get anything. Oh well, I suppose there is always next year. @ForeverFish Do you have to live in NYC, LA, or Miami to participate in Regional programs? Or could you just travel to one of them? Just asking for future reference. :)</p>
<p>@ReincarnatedPoet: No, this is the first year that the Regional programs are available to all winners! (Lucky me!) I’ll be responsible for travel expenses and accommodations, since I live in Texas and am planning on going to the NY one, but the program itself is completely free of charge.</p>