Scholastic Gold Key Award Winner 2023

In 2023, I received a Gold Key in the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards for a pen illustration created using a Zentangle inspired style. The Scholastic Awards are one of the most prestigious art and writing competitions for middle and high school students in the United States. Each year, students submit work across many categories including drawing, painting, photography, sculpture, and digital art. Submissions are judged regionally and the strongest pieces receive awards like the Gold Key, Silver Key, or Honorable mention. Gold Key works represent the highest level of achievement and advance to national judging.

My piece features a highly detailed elephant constructed from intricate patterns and textures. The drawing was created using a fine point sharpie to make fine pen lines and repetitive shapes, a technique inspired by Zentangle. I was interested in exploring how complex patterns could form a recognizable subject while also still maintaining rhythm throughout the composition.

The elephants were designed almost like a landscape made of patterns. Different sections across the body contain unique shapes like swirling lines, geometric forms, and organic shapes, which each one flowing into the next. This approach allowed the artwork to feel structured while also being loose and imaginative. The patterned design also represents the elephant’s symbolic meaning as being associated with calm strength.

Winning a Gold Key for this piece was exciting because it validated the time and patience that the detailed pen work required. It also pushed me to step outside of my comfort zone and experiment with different mediums and techniques within my work, as pen and zentangling was completely new to me.