We are pleased to announce that two Holderness students, James Bae ’26 and Samantha Zhang ’25, have received honorable mentions from the annual Scholastic Art Awards of New Hampshire.
 
Samantha received an honorable mention for “Heritage,” a 15-minute film she made last summer about Inner Mongolia, a Chinese autonomous region bordering Mongolia famous for its vast grasslands, deserts, and nomadic herders. It’s also where Samantha spent the first 12 years of her life. In an interview this fall, Samantha credits her parents for inspiring her to explore her Inner Mongolian heritage, and to share it with others. “It's my parents who told me ‘It's the thing you should know and you should share with more people. That’s part of your culture. That’s part of your identity,’” Samantha said. This fall, “Heritage” was also nominated for Best Young Filmmaker and the Best Student Short at the prestigious Indie Short Fest, a Los Angeles-based international film competition.

 
James received a Scholastic Art Awards of New Hampshire honorable mention for his graphic design submission, “Thousand-yard Stare.” The haunting work features a closeup of a soldier’s face, with fighter planes flying over a cityscape in the background. “In a world where wars are predominantly evaluated through numeric and external features, this work attempts to redirect attention to the overlooked internal struggles of individuals,” James wrote in his contest submission. “Through a careful demonstration of emptiness in the soldier's eyes, the work endeavors to humanize the impact of war traumas.”

The Scholastic Art Awards of New Hampshire are an affiliate of the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, the nation’s longest-running, most prestigious recognition program for creative teens. The awards consist of 30 categories spanning the visual arts and writing disciplines, from Comic Art and Photography to Short Story and Poetry. Student submissions are judged on their work’s originality, skill, and its expression of a unique and authentic perspective.
 
All entries are first considered regionally for Gold Key, Silver Key, Honorable Mention, American Voices Nominee, and American Visions Nominee awards. Gold Key-awarded entries are automatically considered for national awards.