Loreti '13 Wins Prestigious Art Award
Matt Loreti ’13 has won a coveted National Gold Medal for his photograph “South End” in the 2012 National Scholastic Art & Writing Awards competition. National Gold Medal awards are given to the most outstanding student works of art and writing in the nation.
Matt Loreti ’13 has won a coveted National Gold Medal for his photograph “South End” in the 2012 National Scholastic Art and Writing Awards competition. National Gold Medal awards are given to the most outstanding student works of art and writing in the nation.
Approximately 100,000 students from across the country submitted more than 200,000 works of art and writing to the competition this year, and Matt's photograph was among 1,500 works that received a prestigious National Gold or Silver Medal award.
"I like the picture because it has a certain human element to it," said Matt, who took the photograph in Boston’s South End neighborhood. "It stood out due to the facial expressions, which naturally grab the attention of people viewing a piece. The combination of their upward gazes and body language somehow transcended what I'd expect from an image of children playing catch.”
Established in 1923, The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards is the nation's largest, longest-running, most prestigious visual and literary arts program that recognizes accomplishments of students in grades 7 to 12. In judging National Medal works of art, panelists look for works that best exemplify originality, technical skill and the emergence of a personal voice or vision.
Students in public, private, and parochial schools first submit portfolios to a regional competition in the fall, and works are first judged at the local level. The Gold Key winners from the regional competition then move onto the national competition where they compete for the National Gold and Silver Medal. Matt previously won Gold Keys at the regional level two photographs, one of which was “South End.”
“I think what they saw in Matt's picture was his ability to get close to his subjects, to fill the frame well, and his capturing just the right moment in terms of the action and the wonderfully expressive faces of the two boys,” said Matt’s father, Tony Loreti, who happens to teach photography at CSW and is also an award-winning photographer. “There's a lot you can't control in a street photograph, but it all came together for Matt in this picture.”
Matt and his family will travel to New York City in June to attend the National Medalists Awards Ceremony at Carnegie Hall. Matt’s photograph will also be on display at a New York gallery.
CSW—a gender-inclusive day and boarding school for grades 9-12—is a national leader in progressive education. We live out our values of inquiry-based learning, student agency, and embracing diverse perspectives in every aspect of our student experience. Young people come to CSW to learn how to learn and then put what they learn into action—essential skills they carry into their futures as doers, makers, innovators, leaders, and exceptional humans who do meaningful work in the world.