What do we win? Is this a contest?

Judging:

• This is not technically a contest. It is truly a program hosted by PTAs (local, council, state and national), run by volunteers, created to give students a forum to explore the arts and expand their interests and talents.
• Entries are judged by local professionals volunteering their time and talents.
• Elementary age divisions are Primary: K-2 and Intermediate: 3-5 and Special Artist (for students who qualify)
• Entries are divided into Age Division then Art Category. Judges base decisions on the artist's statement explaining how well the concept fits the theme, mastery of the medium (or how well students used the materials) and the overall creativity. *A well developed concept is more important than technique.*
• Students are individually judged on their entry and not in comparison to the other students so there can be multiple awards given within the groups.

Awards:

• All entrants will be recognized at the last Spirit Rally of the Fall Semester and receive Husky Bucks (or the equivalent) for each entry! **Art prizes, certificates and ribbons are given to top entries!**
• Ribbons and certificates will be given for the following awards (a percentage of entries receive awards):
• Award of Excellence (blue ribbon)
• Award of Merit (red ribbon)
• Honorable Mention (white ribbon)
• Entries will be displayed at the school and top entries will be featured in the yearbook.

What’s next:

• Local Award of Excellence entries advance to Plano ISD Council of PTAs judging in December every year.
• If the entry was submitted digitally, it will need to be turned in physically for Council judging.
• A small percentage of entries are awarded at Council; then one entry per age and category (no more than 30 total) advance to the Texas PTA State level. From there they may move on to the National PTA level.
• The Texas PTA judging rules state only a small percentage of items can be awarded at the Council level:
  Overall Award of Excellence 1 per age division and art category; maximum of 30 total items go to State
• Award of Excellence (Blue) 10% of the entries, OAE are chosen to move on to State from this group
• Award of Merit (Red) 15% of the entries
• Honorable Mention (Yellow) 25% of the entries
• To learn more about the judging processes or anything related to the National PTA Reflections Program, visit the Plano ISD Council of PTAs Reflections website: www.txpta.org/reflections
• Overall Award of Excellence entries are chosen from the Award of Excellence group, so not all Award of Excellence will get the Overall award.
• Those entries are shipped to Texas PTA so they may not be returned until the end of the Spring semester.
• Entries awarded at the Council level will also be recognized at the last Spirit Rally of the year along with the Local awards.
• Students advancing past Council have chances to win monetary prizes for their art!
• Plano PTA Council of PTAs hosts an awards ceremony each year in the Spring (usually April) for students who participated in the Council level judging where they get ribbons and other prizes.
• Any awards from State judging by Texas PTA are also celebrated and awards are given by Texas PTA and their sponsors like Whataburger. Some students are invited to the awards ceremony in Austin.