Skaneateles High School student Becky Flannigan and teacher Linda Torrey were honored at the National Scholastic Art and Writing Award ceremony at New York’s Carnegie Hall in June.

It is the oldest, longest-running, most prestigious recognition program for student achievement in the visual arts and creative writing in the United States.

More than 600 students from all over the nation were honored for their creativity.  Their works were selected out of 165,000 entries in writing and art from throughout the country, said Torrey.

Flannigan received two medals: the American Visions Award and a National Gold for her drawing, Corroded Boundaries.  Torrey received a Gold Key Award from the national program. 

Torrey said students went through rigorous judging before their work was even able to be entered into the competition.  Judges at each level included artists, art gallery curators and staff from art institutions.

The Empire State Building was lit in gold to honor the Scholastic Awards.

The overall event lasted several days, with creative-industry workshops in New York City, including "The Amateur Spirit," a talk by novelist and host of NPR’s Studio 360, Kurt Andersen; "The Guggenheim," a behind-the-scenes tour of the museum by director of photography Jennifer Blessing; a panel discussion on "The Future of Writing" with Found magazine’s Davy Rothbart and Rob Spillman from Tin House Books; and editorial meetings at Rolling Stone, Teen Vogue, The New Yorker and People magazines.

Student achievements were celebrated by family, creative industry leaders, educators and patrons. Actors Ben Foster and Michael Stuhlbarg read selected works by Award recipients and poet Patricia Smith performed an original piece written for this year’s Award winners.

The award-winning artwork and writing of past and present winners is on exhibit at The World Financial Center in Battery Park June 9-25, Tuesday through Saturday.

Since Scholastic founded the program in 1923, the Awards have recognized such distinguished past recipients as Richard Avedon, Robert Redford, Sue Miller, Robert Indiana, Zac Posen, John Lithgow, Joyce Carol Oates, Andy Warhol, Truman Capote, Bernard Malamud, Sylvia Plath, and Kay WalkingStick, who all received awards when they were in high school.