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NOMINEES
Nominees are juniors and seniors nominated by a teacher for Artist of the Year.
Once nominated, a student is considered a nominee, even if that student does not complete her/his/their portion of the application.
All nominees will be recognized in print by The Orange County Register.
HIGH SCHOOL TEACHERS: We encourage visual and performing arts teachers at Orange County high schools to nominate their top students. Non-arts teachers may also nominate students if they are able to speak to a student's strengths as an artist in the nominated discipline.
PRIVATE INSTRUCTORS: Private tutors as well as instructors at private studios and in after-school art programs in Orange County to nominate their top students. The nominating instructor should be able to speak to the student's strengths as an artist in the nominated discipline.
Each SCHOOL / ORGANIZATION is allowed a limited number of nominations per discipline.
If more than one teacher at your school or studio wants to nominate students in the same discipline, you must collaborate to decide who will nominate each student.
HIGH SCHOOLS
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5 JUNIORS and 5 SENIORS in each discipline.
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Maximum of 70 nominees per school.
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If more than one teacher at a school wants to nominate students in specific disciplines, those teachers need to collaborate together to choose their 10 nominees.
FOR EXAMPLE: If a school has 3 band teachers who all want to nominate students, those teachers need to talk with each other and decide on a maximum of 5 juniors and 5 seniors in total to represent the school.
PRIVATE STUDIOS / CONSERVATORIES
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1 JUNIOR and 1 SENIOR
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Private studios are those organizations not associated with a high school that teach artistic disciplines. (i.e. dance studios, theater/music conservatories, after school art programs)
UNAFFILIATED PRIVATE INSTRUCTORS
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1 JUNIOR and 1 SENIOR
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If an instructor teachers a student one-on-one, not associated with a school or studio, that instructor may nominate students only if they are not nominating for any other organization.
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NO.
The student should be nominated by one person only. If more than one instructor wants to nominate a student, we encourage the instructors to talk with the student about who the best instructor to nominate should be.
Ultimately, that student will represent the organization associated with the instructor.
It depends.
Nominations are capped by school, not by teacher.
The maximum number of nominees in each discipline is 5 Juniors and 5 Seniors - PER SCHOOL.
EXAMPLE 1 | ONE THEATER TEACHER
School A has one theater teacher.
That teacher may nominate10 nominees in theater to represent their school - 5 juniors and 5 seniors.
EXAMPLE 2 | MULTIPLE THEATER TEACHERS
School A has 3 theater teachers. Collectively, those teachers may nominate10 nominees in theater to represent their school - 5 juniors and 5 seniors.
Those teachers will check with each other to determine who they want to nominate and who will submit the nomination.
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TEACHER A agrees to nominate 3 actors and 1 designer.
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TEACHER B agrees to nominate 4 musical theater performers
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TEACHER C agrees to nominate 2 designers.
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Ideally, NO.
We STRONGLY DISCOURAGE parents from nominating their student and encourage parents to find an unbiased person to nominate their student.
BUT, we recognize that in some specialized cases, the parent may be the ONLY instructor qualified to nominate the student because the parent is the only person training the student in their artform. In that case, the parent may be the nominator. But we STRONGLY DISCOURAGE this.
We, and the judges, want nominations to come from an unbiased person. Students should be nominated by those instructors that train your student in her/his/their art form.
We encourage you to contact us if you have further questions about this.
NO.
Only teachers/private instructors can nominate. If you wish to be nominated, we suggest that you talk with your teacher/private instructor about this possibility.
NO.
Each nominator gets ten nominations: 5 juniors AND 5 seniors PER DISCIPLINE TOTAL.
Where you choose to attribute (to the high school, a private studio/program, or to an individual private instructor) that nomination is up to you.
SEMIFINALISTS
Up to 16 students in each discipline are chosen as SEMIFINALISTS.
16 semifinalists x 7 disciplines = 112 SEMIFINALISTS annually
Semifinalists are invited to present their work and have a conversation with a panel of professional artists, arts professionals and university arts faculty.
Semifinalists are chosen during ROUND 1 of judging. Jump to the JUDGING section on the FAQ page to learn more.
Artists chosen as semifinalists in each specialty will be invited to present their art form and engage in conversation in-person with of a panel of judges on the Chapman University campus.
PRESENT YOUR ART FORM
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Every semifinalist will be invited to present their art form in person to the judging panel.
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We will email the semifinalists with specifics of what is required based on their discipline/specialty.
HAVE A CONVERSATION
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The conversation always starts by asking the student: “Tell us about how the work you presented today reflects who you are as an artist.”
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We encourage students to go back to the statement they wrote for their application that answers the question: “In your opinion, what does it mean to be an artist?” We want students to think about that statement and how you are working towards fulfilling that idea. We are looking to understand the students' artistic impulses and the ways they choose to communicate ideas through their your art form.
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We also use the other answers that the students submitted as a jumping off point to learn more about their fuller life as an artist.
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Semifinalists presentations will take place at the end of March on the Chapman University campus (during Chapman's spring break week.)
Go to our IMPORTANT DATES page to see specific dates.
Semifinalists will be interviewed by a panel of professional artists, arts professionals, and university arts faculty.
To learn more about judging, jump to the JUDGING section on the FAQ page to learn more.
FINALISTS & ARTISTS OF THE YEAR
FINALISTS are students who stood out during the semifinal interviews but who are not ultimately named as the Artist of the Year.
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Typically, four students in each discipline are chosen as FINALISTS for that discipline.
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At least one finalist will represent Division 2, assuming enough Division 2 students were nominated.
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4 Finalists x 7 Disciplines = 28 Finalists
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ARTISTS OF THE YEAR are the top students in each discipline as chosen by a panel of arts professionals.
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Learn more about JUDGING CRITERIA when evaluating and choosing Artists of the Year on our JUDGING page.
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Only one student in each discipline will be named as the Artist of the Year.
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1 Artist of the Year x 7 Disciplines = 7 Artists of the Year
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Finalists and Artists of the Year are chosen by the a panel of professional artists, arts professionals, and university arts faculty to interview the semifinalists.
In the evening after all of the semifinalists interviews have been completed, the judging panel discuss the artists they interviewed and come to consensus on who will be named as the finalists and Artists of the Year.
ELIGIBILITY
Eligible nominees need to meet two criteria:
1. AGE
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Only high school JUNIORS or SENIORS may be nominated.
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If the student does not attend a traditional high school that tracks students by grade, the student should be between the ages of 15 and 19.
2. AN ORANGE COUNTY CONNECTION
Students should either:
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Be a resident of Orange County, AND/OR
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A student studying at a high school in Orange County.
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YES.
This is about celebrating the top high school artists in the county this year regardless of how well they did in the previous year.
We want to honor the top artists in any given year and recognize that the top artist may be the same student two years in a row.
NO. Well, no and yes.
If a student is enrolled as a student during the current school year, that student may be nominated, even if that student graduates mid-year (before the May/June graduation ceremonies.)
NO.
YES! Nominate that student!
This program isn't about "winning." It is about honoring excellence.
We want to encourage all teachers and instructors to nominate the top artists being cultivated by their program. Use this to celebrate artistry in your programs.
Don’t worry about comparing yourselves to other programs or picking someone that is likely to be named "Artist of the Year." Celebrate your students and where they are right now.
Think of nominating like sending athletes to the Olympics. Most countries are PROUD to send their best to participate in the Olympic Games, even if they understand that their athletes may not be contenders for a medal. Your nominees are the proud representatives of your school.
Not necessarily. We are not looking for the top "arts leader" or top "arts student."
We are looking for your top ARTISTS. Now, if your top leader and favorite student is also your top artist, then that is the person to nominate.
NO.
If, for instance, you do not have a film program, you can still nominate outstanding film students who attend your school.
Ideally, we want you to be able to showcase the students who are training in their art form at your school/in your program, BUT if you do not have a specific program on your campus, you can still nominate a student in the discipline if you feel that student is excellent in that discipline.
TEACHER REQUIREMENTS
Teachers should be prepared to provide the following:
STUDENT'S INFORMATION
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NAME
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GRADE: Junior or Senior
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EMAIL: If you provide a school provided email address for the student (ex: 123456abc@sausd.edu) please make sure that the address can accept emails from outside your district - specifically, from ocartistoftheyear@aoy.scng.com
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THE STUDENT'S HIGH SCHOOL: Even if the student is being nominated by a studio or private instructor, we want to know which high school the student attends.
TEACHER'S INFORMATION
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YOUR NAME
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YOUR EMAIL: Please make sure that the address can accept emails from outside your district - specifically, from ocartistoftheyear@aoy.scng.com
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YOUR PHONE: The best number at which to reach you.
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LENGTH: 250 -1500 CHARACTERS, including spaces (approx. 50 - 300 words)
PROMPT
Tell us why you believe this student is an Artist of the Year.
Your statement does not need to be long. Ultimately, we are looking for a solid quote to publish in the paper that celebrates your student. To this end, if you choose to write a short statement, it's important that your statement is well-written and coherent.
If you want to repurpose a recommendation that you have already written for your students, you can do that as well. But again, we need to pull a few sentences of it to publish in the paper.
Your statement will also be included with all materials presented to the judges.
STUDENT REQUIREMENTS
Students should be prepared to provide the following:
STUDENT'S INFORMATION
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YOUR NAME: As you want it to appear in print.
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YOUR GRADE: Junior or Senior
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YOUR BIRTHDATE
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YOUR PRONOUNS: Not all names are familiar to us, therefore, including your pronouns helps us to make sure we are correctly identifying you when we write about you!
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YOUR EMAIL: If you provide a school provided email address (ex: 123456abc@sausd.edu) please make sure that the address can accept emails from outside your district - specifically, from ocartistoftheyear@aoy.scng.com
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YOUR PHONE NUMBER: Best number for texts and phone calls.
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YOUR ADDRESS: Best snail mail address to receive information.
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YOUR HIGH SCHOOL: Even if you are being nominated by a studio or private instructor, we want to know which high school you attend.
TEACHER'S INFORMATION
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FIRST AND LAST NAME
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TEACHER'S EMAIL
(optional)
PARENT'S INFORMATION
Include this information only if you want a parent/guardian to also receive communications about Artist of the Year.
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NAME
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EMAIL
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PHONE NUMBER: The best number at which to reach your parent/guardian.
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All students must submit a PHOTO and a PHOTO RELEASE
FORMAT | jpg
SIZE | 1 MB max (or 1000 kb)
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Ideally, we want to see your face in your photo and it should reflect who you are as an artist.
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Photos may be published in print or online by Artist of the Year, MediaNews Group, Chapman University, Segerstrom Center for the Arts, Arts Orange County, and any other sponsor, and by their successors, licensees and assigns.
PHOTO RELEASE OPTIONS
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Print out the Photo Release pdf below.
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Fill out the top of the form.
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Have the photographer sign the release at the bottom. (If you are the photographer, you must sign the release.)
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Scan or photograph the completed release.
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Upload the signed document as a jpg or pdf as a part of your online application.
OPTION 2
ONLY FOR PHOTOS TAKEN BY
A PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER
or PHOTO STUDIO
If you HAVE a photo release from a professional photographer/photo studio for the photo you want to use, you may submit that as your photo release.
When providing a release from a professional photographer/photo studio, please do the following:
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Make a copy of the release.
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Hightlight the following on the release:
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The name of the photographer/photo studio who took the photo.
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Language that indicates that the rights of the photo belong to you.
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Language that indicates that you have unlimited permission to use this photo.
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Language that indicates that there are no financial obligations to the photographer/photo studio for the use of the submitted photo, now or in the future.
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SCAN or TAKE A PICTURE OF THE RELEASE with the highlighted language.
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UPLOAD THE DOCUMENT as a jpg or pdf as a part of your online application.
OPTION 3
ONLY FOR PHOTOS TAKEN BY
STEVE WYLIE
You do NOT need to submit a photo release, if your photo was taken by STEVE WYLIE. We have a release on file from him.
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You and your parent will be able to sign the participation agreement online, in the application. If you are unable to sign documents virtually, you may print out this document to sign and attach it to your application.
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Download and print out the Nomination Agreement.
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Fill out the form and collect the relevant signatures.
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BOTH the student AND parent/guardian must sign the agreement.
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Scan or photograph the signed document.
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Upload the signed document as a jpg or pdf as a part of the online application.
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VISUAL ARTS
LENGTH: 500 -1500 CHARACTERS,
including spaces (approx. 100 - 300 words) for each prompt
PART 1: REQUIRED FOR ALL NOMINEES
In your opinion, what does it mean to be an artist?
We are not interested in how others have defined what it means to be an artist. This question is designed to help you develop and explain YOUR PERSONAL UNDERSTANDING of what it means to be an artist.
PART 2: You need to answer 2 PROMPTS out of the five below.
We are using these questions to learn about who you are as an artist. Your answers, included in your online application, will help us to best understand how you think and what you are trying to explore artistically.
YOUR ARTISTIC STATEMENT: An artistic statement is a written description of an artist's work, providing context and insight into their creative process, motivations, and the meaning behind their art. It's a way for artists to communicate with their audience, helping them understand the artist's vision and the ideas explored in their work. If you have developed an artistic statement, you may want to share that with us.
BEGINNINGS AND TURNING POINTS: How did you get started in your art form? And/or describe an experience you had that helped you to develop a passion for what you do. What was it about that experience that was impactful?
BREADTH AND DEPTH: Beyond your specialty, are you involved in other aspects of your art form? What else do you do in this art form? What do you want us to know about your involvement in this art form?
BEYOND YOUR ART FORM: Tell us about how your work in your art form has influenced the other artistic parts of your life.
THE FUTURE: Looking ahead, what do you want to do as an artist? Generally, what kind of impact do you want to have on the world? Specifically, what kind of work do you want to do in the future?
THIS IS OPTIONAL for Fine Arts & Media Arts.
You will have space to list any awards you have received as a visual artist if you want to share that information with us.Portfolios to showcase artwork will be required by students nominated in the following disciplines/specialties.
IMPORTANT: Put your strongest piece first.
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Specifics on what to include in your portfolio, how to format your portfolio, and examples of portfolios, go to the discipline page.
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You will not be disqualified if you do not follow the guidelines, however, based on videos that we have seen over the years, these guidelines will help you showcase yourself in the best way possible. If you choose to not follow these guidelines, your video may not be viewed by the judges.
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PERFORMING ARTS, FILM & TV
LENGTH: 500 -1500 CHARACTERS,
including spaces (approx. 100 - 300 words) for each prompt
PART 1: REQUIRED FOR ALL NOMINEES
In your opinion, what does it mean to be an artist?
We are not interested in how others have defined what it means to be an artist. This question is designed to help you develop and explain YOUR PERSONAL UNDERSTANDING of what it means to be an artist.
PART 2: You need to answer 2 PROMPTS out of the five below.
We are using these questions to learn about who you are as an artist. Your answers, included in your online application, will help us to best understand how you think and what you are trying to explore artistically.
YOUR WORK: Tell us about the pieces you submitted and why you think they reflect who you are as an artist. Why did you choose these pieces? What do you want people to see/feel/understand as a result of interacting with your work?
BEGINNINGS AND TURNING POINTS: How did you get started in your art form? And/or describe an experience you had that helped you to develop a passion for what you do. What was it about that experience that was impactful?
BREADTH AND DEPTH: Beyond your specialty, are you involved in other aspects of your art form? What else do you do in this art form? What do you want us to know about your involvement in this art form?
BEYOND YOUR ART FORM: Tell us about how your work in your art form has influenced the other artistic parts of your life.
THE FUTURE: Looking ahead, what do you want to do as an artist? Generally, what kind of impact do you want to have on the world? Specifically, what kind of work do you want to do in the future?
An artistic résumé will be required by students nominated in the following disciplines.
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Résumés highlighting your artistic work are different from your typical business résumé. You shouldn't list jobs unrelated to your art work.
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Details and examples of résumés for your artform can be found on the discipline page.
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A video to show your performance / film clips / reel will be required by students nominated in the following disciplines.
IMPORTANT: Put your strongest piece first.
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All pieces should be submitted on one (1) video You will only have space to submit one link in the application.
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Each piece on your video should be approximately one (1) minute each. You will not be disqualified if your pieces are slightly longer than required, so don't worry about being EXACT.... HOWEVER, concise is best.
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Specifics on what to include in your video, how to format your video, and examples of videos, go to the discipline page.
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You will not be disqualified if you do not follow the guidelines, however, based on videos that we have seen over the years, these guidelines will help you showcase yourself in the best way possible. If you choose to not follow these guidelines, your video may not be viewed by the judges.
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Portfolios to showcase artwork will be required by students nominated in the following disciplines/specialties.
IMPORTANT: Put your strongest piece first.
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Specifics on what to include in your portfolio, how to format your portfolio, and examples of portfolios, go to the discipline page.
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You will not be disqualified if you do not follow the guidelines, however, based on videos that we have seen over the years, these guidelines will help you showcase yourself in the best way possible. If you choose to not follow these guidelines, your video may not be viewed by the judges.
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DISCIPLINES
A DISCIPLINE is the broad area of study. We determine Artists of the Year in these SEVEN disciplines:
YES!
Technically, a student may be nominated seven (7) times in one season: once in each of the seven disciplines.
FOR EXAMPLE
If a student is amazing in theater AND is, say, a virtuoso pianist, that student may be nominated in both THEATER and INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC.
In this instance, the theater nomination application should address the student’s strengths in theater and the instrumental music application should address the student’s strengths as a pianist.
NO.
That said, we hope your school encourages teachers in every arts discipline to nominate students.
SPECIALTIES
A SPECIALTY is an area of study within a discipline. For instance, for dance, specialties could include contemporary, ballet, tap, and ballet folklorico.
Examples of specialties are outlined on each discipline page.
When filling out their application, the STUDENTS are asked to note the specialties they are showcasing.
The teacher does NOT have to identify a specialty for the student.
DIVISIONS
Students will be placed in divisions based on the number of years of training.
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Division 1 (D1) = Students who have been working in their artform for a while and has had with significant training.
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Division 2 (D2) = Students new to their artform with less training.
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The teacher does NOT need to figure out a student's division. This will be determined using questions asked to the student on the student's portion of the application.
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During ROUND 1, students from both D1 and D2 will be passed onto the semifinals.
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We will guarantee that D1 and D2 students will be named as finalists.
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The Artist of the Year will still be one student, chosen regardless of their division.
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CALCULATING YEARS OF TRAINING
# years of school instruction
+ # years of private instruction
= # YEARS TRAINING, even if these years overlap
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SCHOOL INSTRUCTION = Any training received as a part of the middle school and high school curriculum or as extra curricular school activities.
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PRIVATE INSTRUCTION = Any training received that is separate from the school. This can be at a private studio and/or with a private instructor
D1
DIVISION 1
Students will be placed in D1 if:
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TRAINING equals:
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5 or MORE years | Dance & Instrumental Music
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4 or MORE years | Theater & Vocal Music
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3 or MORE years | Film & TV, Fine Arts, & Media Arts
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-- AND/OR --
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The student's SCHOOL is:
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OCSA | Orange County School of the Arts, or
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APA | Huntington Beach Academy for the Performing Arts
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D2
DIVISION 2
Students will be placed in D2 if:
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TRAINING equals:
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LESS THAN 5 years | Dance & Instrumental Music
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LESS THAN 4 years | Theater & Vocal Music
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LESS THAN 3 years | Film & TV, Fine Arts, & Media Arts
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ROUND 1 JUDGING
All high school arts teachers in Orange County are invited to evaluate the applications from nominees in Round 1. Any teacher, whether they have nominated or not, may be a part of the evaluation process.
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No teacher is prevented from participating. In 2025, we invited 991 teachers to participate. We have the capacity to include them all if every one chose to evaluate our nominees.
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Typically, 10 to 20 teachers (sometimes more) volunteer to review and rank the applications.
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Teachers judge in their discipline of expertise. Theater teachers evaluate theater nominees, visual arts teachers evaluate visual arts nominees, etc.
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All nominators are volunteers, donating their time to evaluate applications.
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YES.
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All high school arts teachers are invited to review and rank other students. Because teachers who do not nominate are not inclined to volunteer to evaluate these applications, most teachers who judge have also nominated students.
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Teachers will NOT review and rank their own student(s), but can review and rank other students.
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All teachers (except parents) are be invited to participate in the Zoom conversation where we choose the top 16 students.
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Yes, BUT.... only if the parent is a high school arts teacher.
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Parents and teachers do NOT review and rank their own student(s), but they can review and rank other students.
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Parents of nominees will NOT be invited to participate in the Zoom conversation where we choose the top 16 students.
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Yes, as long as your have expertise in the artform you would like to volunteer to judge.
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To volunteer, email us at ocartistoftheyear@aoy.scng.com. Send any materials that will help us to understand your expertise. (For instance, a resume, online portfolio, bio on an arts org site, etc.)
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Ranking the applications is the FIRST PASS at student work.
When ranking the applications, judges receive the following instructions:
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Please rank each student on a scale from 1 to 4, with 4 being "definitely an Artist of the Year."
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Each student should be considered on her/his/their own merit.
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When the panel meets, we use a student's average rank as a starting point for the discussion, so the more nuanced you are with your rank, the truer the scores will be.
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You will NOT rank any student you nominated and/or have taught.
While we ask judges to take into consideration all of the attributes of an artist as outlined on the WHAT IS AN ARTIST OF THE YEAR? page when ranking, this is a first pass at your work and due to the volume of applications being reviewed, most teachers base these initial rankings off of the video/portofolio.
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We prefer that student's don't highlight their school name when presenting their videos/portfolios so that the judges are not swayed in their evaluation when judging students.
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A student's high school is not listed when we share the students' applications with the judges. However, if a student mentions her/his/their school in the video, portfolio, statements, or resume, we are unable to omit that information.
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All teachers who ranked the applications are also invited to participate in an in-person Zoom conversation. Typically, 5 to 10 teachers participate in this conversation.
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The rankings are averaged (throwing out the top and bottom score for each artist) and are used as a STARTING POINT for a conversation about the nominees. (Due the the volume of nominations we cannot discuss all student. The rankings help us identify the top tier.)
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The discussion starts by looking at the students who have an average rank of 3.5 and above (usually about 30 students per discipline.) Any teacher present may request to review any student on the list, regardless of their ranking.
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We whittle the list down to a max of 16 semifinalists. Usually the top 10 are obvious choices. To round out the group, we take a deeper look at ALL of the materials submitted and we use our time together to discuss the merits of each nominee under consideration.
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At minimum, two (2) DIVISION 2 students will be selected as semifinalists.
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ROUND 2 JUDGING
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Students will be interviewed by a panel of professional artists, university arts faculty and arts organization representitives.
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Sometimes, high school arts teachers are also invited to participate on these panels if they do not have a student named as a semifinalist that year.
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All nominators are volunteers, donating their time to evaluate applications.
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NO.
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We only allow teachers to participate in ROUND 2 who DO NOT have students named as semifinalists.
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YES, as long as your have expertise in the artform you would like to volunteer to judge.
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Judges must commit to the full time required to interview all students and the post-conversation to pick the top students. This process takes approximately 5 to 6 hours.
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To volunteer, email us at ocartistoftheyear@aoy.scng.com. Send any materials that will help us to understand your expertise. (For instance, a resume, online portfolio, bio on an arts org site, etc.)
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