Alfred University News

AU to host award ceremony for young Western New York artists

Alfred University Saturday will host an awards ceremony honoring high school-age artists in western New York whose artwork won honors in the recent Western New York Scholastic Art Awards competition.


Alfred University Saturday will host an awards ceremony honoring high school-age artists in western New York whose artwork won honors in the recent Western New York Scholastic Art Awards competition.

Alfred University’s School of Art and Design served as judge for the competition, which received 412 entries from 230 individual students representing the 13 counties of western New York: Seneca, Yates, Ontario, Monroe, Orleans, Genesee, Wyoming, Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Erie, Livingston, and Niagara.

“We are so proud to be selecting our own region’s artists to go forward to the national level of competition,” said Dan Napolitano, Associate Dean of the Arts at Alfred University.

Three students won the most prestigious Gold Key award in the Senior Portfolio category and will compete nationally against hundreds of other artists for a $10,000 Portfolio Gold Key scholarship, which is awarded annually to 10 high school seniors. From Western New York, the Gold Key Portfolio winners were Brianna Bernas of South High School in Williamsville; Jenny Li of Pittsford Mendon High School in Pittsford; and Ana Nowicki of Clarence Senior High School in Clarence.

The presentation ceremony at Alfred University is open to the public and will begin at 11 am, with studio tours being offered at noon. Due to COVID restrictions, a gallery exhibit of work will not be displayed this year and art will displayed digitally on stage. Schools and media requesting images of students or artwork should contact Maria Bentley, Associate Director of Admissions. Other inquiries should be directed to Napolitano.

Within the Senior Portfolio category, Silver Key awards were given Carly Glashauser (Hamburg High School), Mina Stevens (Pittsford Mendon High School), and Francesca Woolson (Fredonia Senior High School). Additional Silver Key awards were awarded to 53 students for individual work submissions.

Gold Key recipients for individual work include:

Elaina Combs (Nichols School), Elexis Dixon (York Central Middle High School), Helga Mae Enoc (PS 192 Buffalo Visual Perf Art), Alyssa Ferrer (Pittsford Mendon High School), Jacqueline Henry (Allendale Columbia School), Ashley Jopp (Webster Thomas High School), Hailey Kliszak (Lake Shore Senior High School), Ashlyn Kreiss (Pittsford Sutherland High School), Jonathan Ragan (Allendale Columbia School), Hannah Rich (Nichols School), Olivia Schneider (Webster Thomas High School), Nicholas Semsel (Starpoint High School), Emma Shearer (Geneseo Central School), Tianyue Shi (Pittsford Mendon High School), Mina Stevens (Pittsford Mendon High School), Danielle Strauf (Pittsford Mendon High School), Emily Sullivan (Geneseo Central School), Michael Teresi (McQuaid Jesuit High School), Ambrose Weidmann (Mcquaid Jesuit High School), Leah Wirley (Webster Thomas High School), and Lingyi Zhao (Allendale Columbia School).

While all individual Gold Key awards move on for national jurying, the regional jurors chose five of these Gold Key winners to nominate for the standout American Visions award. These five individual pieces were created by seniors Elexis Dixon (York Central Middle High School), Ashlyn Kreiss (Pittsford Sutherland High School), Ana Nowicki (Clarence Senior High School), Nicholas Semsel (Starpoint High School), and 10th grader Ambrose Weidmann (McQuaid Jesuit High School). One of these five artworks is guaranteed to be chosen for a National Gold Key, as each region is allotted one such key in this category.