2025 YoungArts Award Competition Open Now Through October 17 

YoungArts, the national foundation for the advancement of artists, is now accepting applications for its prestigious annual competition. Artists ages 15-18 or in grades 10–12 are encouraged to apply online at youngarts.org/apply through October 17, 2024.

All YoungArts award winners will receive financial awards ranging from $250 to $10,000, opportunities to work with leading artists, and become eligible for exclusive creative and professional development support throughout their careers. Applications are adjudicated through a rigorous process by esteemed panels of artists. 2025 YoungArts award winners will be announced on November 25, 2024.

Award winners with distinction are invited to participate in National YoungArts Week, the organization's signature program that provides approximately 150 young artists a weeklong, all-expenses-paid, intensive program in Miami where they have the opportunity to learn from esteemed artists in their field—such as Debbie Allen, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Germane Barnes, Wynton Marsalis, Salman Rushdie and Mickalene Thomas—collaborate across disciplines, and share their work with the public. Participants in National YoungArts Week who are high school seniors are further eligible for nomination to the White House Commission on U.S. Presidential Scholars. 

“The YoungArts competition is the pivotal moment when a young person affirms, ‘I am an artist,' and applying is the first step to becoming part of our vibrant community,” said YoungArts President and CEO Clive Chang. “We are proud to be the only organization that provides artists across 10 disciplines with lifelong professional and creative development opportunities and creates a vital network of support that reverberates throughout an artist's career.”

Award winners join a distinguished group of leading artists including Daniel Arsham, Jon Batiste, Terence Blanchard, Camille A. Brown, Timothée Chalamet, Viola Davis, Amanda Gorman, Denyce Graves, Judith Hill, Jennifer Koh, Tarell Alvin McCraney, Andrew Rannells, Desmond Richardson, Jean Shin, Hunter Schafer and Shaina Taub.

HOW TO APPLY

The YoungArts award competition is open to artists (1) between the ages of 15–18 or in high school grades 10–12 (as of December 1, 2024) (2) that are United States citizens, permanent residents or legally able to receive taxable income in the U.S. and (3) that demonstrate excellence in Classical Music, Dance, Design, Film, Jazz, Photography, Theater, Visual Arts, Voice or Writing.

The application deadline is October 17, 2024, at 8 p.m. ET (5 p.m. PT).

For application inquiries, please call (305) 377-1140 or email apply@youngarts.org.

YoungArts programming throughout the year is made possible by the support of its most generous donors, including Anthropologie; Aon; Micky and Madeleine Arison Family Foundation; Sarah Arison and Thomas Wilhelm; Berkowitz Contemporary Foundation; Jeffrey Davis and Michael Miller; The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation; Agnes Gund; Hearst Foundations; Barbara and Amos Hostetter; Michi and Charles Jigarjian / 7G Foundation; John S. and James L. Knight Foundation; Leslie and Jason Kraus; Melony and Adam Lewis; Ashley Longshore; Steven and Oxana Marks; Marni; Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Cultural Affairs Council, the Miami-Dade County Mayor and Board of County Commissioners; Northern Trust Bank; The Jorge M. Pérez Family Foundation at The Miami Foundation; Podhurst Orseck; PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP; Psycho Bunny; Emily Wei Rales and Mitch Rales; Christopher Rim / Command Education; Rockefeller Brothers Fund; Jen Rubio and Stewart Butterfield; Sidney and Florence Stern Family Foundation; SunChips; Sandra and Tony Tamer; Bruce and Ellie Taub; UBS Financial Services, Inc; and Lynn and Louis Wolfson II Family Foundation.

About YoungArts

Established in 1981 by Lin and Ted Arison, YoungArts identifies exceptional young artists, amplifies their potential, and invests in their lifelong creative freedom. YoungArts provides space, funding, mentorship, professional development and community throughout artists' careers. Entrance into this prestigious organization starts with a highly competitive application for talented artists ages 15–18, or grades 10–12, in the United States that is judged by esteemed discipline-specific panels of artists through a rigorous blind adjudication process.

For more information, visit youngarts.org.