Here’s how to make art awards for students. I have found that giving awards to my art students is a great way to build relationships. I also create an awards slide presentation and make the awards inspired by real artists so that we can review their work during the ‘awards ceremony’. It started when I was asked to pick one of my students to win a school-wide “art award”. I realized how hard it would be to single out one student when each had their own strengths. My own Art Class Award Ceremony was born!
Making the Art Awards for Students
I started with a list of artists we discussed during the school year. These were artists we took inspiration from, artwork hung in my classroom, artwork we discussed during Close Readings or well-known artists that come up in class discussions. After I made the list of artists, I assigned unique attributes to each artist. For example, Kehinde Wiley is known for his portraiture and Frida Kahlo is known for her portraits. So the Kehinde Wiley Award is โFor the Most Realistic Portraitโ and the Frida Kahlo Award is โFor the Best Use of Iconology & Symbolismโ.
For some students I had to dig deep, and so the Jackson Pollock Award โFor the Most Expressive Artist (Messiest)โ went to the student who had a lot of fun making art and made plenty of messes along the way. It literally went to my student who painted for the very first time in 7th grade. I started by creating 30 different awards so that every student in each class is presented with a unique award. I also make the file editable so I can change out the names each year without having to start from scratch. After double checking my roster to make sure a unique award has been assigned to each student, I use colorful copy paper to print the award certificates.
Making the Student Awards Ceremony
Next, I put the winners names into a slideshow for the “Awards Ceremony” presentation. For each award, I make a slide that announces the category. Then I show a slide showing some information about or work from the artist the award is inspired by. That is followed by a slide very similar to the one that announces the category but this time with the winner’s name on it.
So for each award the class sees a slide announcing the next artist-inspired award. Then we recall some information about the artist the award is inspired by, and then I announce the winner as I advance to the slide showing the winner’s name.
For anyone interested in purchasing the award packages I have created, the first volume is available here.
A second volume containing 30 more unique artist-inspired awards is available here. The first volume I created was 30 unique awards. Then the next year I made 30 new ones so that I could swap back and forth every year so repeat students wouldn’t get the same awards.
The Payoff
The first year I had the awards, the recipient of the Jackson Pollock Award For the Most Expressive Artist (Messiest) was beyond proud when he received this award. He took it home and showed it to his parents. They wrote me a note to let me know how excited he was about his recognition. It is silly, it is a piece of paper, everyone gets one, but it still makes them feel special. And for some, it may be the first unique award they have ever received. It has become a tradition in my classroom because most of my students stay with me for years. It is a great way to build a community and relationships with my students. I think if you are in the long haul with them, it is important to make a strong relationship from the start.
Yes, it is the end of the year and we are ALL ready for school to be over. Maybe a few of these students have hit a nerve (or two or three), but I try to reflect on the good days and find something special about each of them. Hopefully, this recognition will give them the courage to become more amazing artists.
Enjoy, Trista
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