Minnesota Scholastic Art Awards

Since 2015 the University of Minnesota has hosted the Minnesota Scholastic Art Awards (MSAA). Through a partnership with the Art Educators of Minnesota (AEM), the annual MSAA exhibition is presented in the Regis Center for Art’s Regis West Galleries and the annual MSAA award ceremony is presented at the Weisman Art Museum.

MSAA is part of the national Scholastic Art & Writing Awards program. Scholastic is the longest running, most prestigious competition, and largest source of scholarships for creative teenagers in the United States. The Awards program was created in 1923 and has been administered by the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers since 1994. Past winners include Richard Avedon, John Baldessari, Kay WalkingStick, Andy Warhol, Charles White, and other notable artists.

Each year, the Department of Art presents an exhibition of artworks by hundreds of Gold Key student award winners and a digital slideshow of Silver Key student award winners from across the state of Minnesota at the Regis Center for Art. The presentation of the MSAA exhibition at the Regis Center for Art and the awards ceremony at the Weisman Art Museum demonstrates the high level of achievement by art students in Minnesota, the exceptional academic resources at the University of Minnesota for the study, practice, presentation, and interpretation of the visual arts, and the University’s commitment to furthering the educational and artistic opportunities for young people in Minnesota.