Sun staff
Batavia High School senior Leah Neff is competing for a chance to have her artwork displayed on a national stage.
Neff received a Gold Key Award and Silver Key Award in the regional Scholastic Art and Writing Awards, which included thousands of pieces of artwork from the Greater Cincinnati region.
“Leah does a great job,” Sarah Gadbury, an art teacher at Batavia High School, said about Neff. “She has always been very talented.”
Gadbury said Neff was the reason she submitted students’ artwork to the competition this year.
“Usually 4,000-6,000 pieces are entered,” Gadbury said.
The Scholastic Art and Writing Awards is a long-running recognition program for creative teens in the United States.
The submissions are judged by individuals from the visual and literary arts based upon originality, technical skill and emergence of a personal voice or vision.
Neff submitted four pieces to be judged in the competition. Two of her pieces received awards including a sculpture and a painting.
“The sculpture, called ‘Dream Scape’ is a girl sleeping with colorful dreams,” Neff said.
Neff said the girl’s dreams represent some of the girl’s exciting goals and desires.
She said the life-sized sculpture took several months to complete.
Neff earned a Gold Key Award for the sculpture.
“The other was a painting,” Neff said about her work. “I picked a picture of my dog and did a painting of that.”
Neff received a Silver Key Award for the painting.
Neff said it was great to receive awards for her artwork and to have her work recognized along with other talented pieces.
“It was cool to know my work was among those,” Neff said.
Neff said she is looking to pursue a career in creative design, and has been accepted to participate in the Design, Architecture, Art and Planning Program at University of Cincinnati.
“I am glad I am going to get to do something in the creative field,” Neff said.
Gadbury said if Neff’s work is selected as a national award winner, it will be displayed at Carnegie Hall in New York City.
Gadbury said the judging for nationals is underway. She said an awards night for the regional awards will be held Feb. 21 in Northern Kentucky.