Update Thursday Jan. 28 Katelyn Todd said there is a hierarchy of awards. “You have the gold key award, the silver key award and honorable mentions, so my piece won silver key in photography,” Todd said. 

Todd found out about her award in 2R. “I was super super super happy because that’s a really big deal and awards are cool,” Todd said. 

Original: Wednesday Jan. 20 Over the 2015 winter break,  junior Katelyn Todd submitted a photo to the Scholastic Art and Writing Competition.

According to the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards page, they recognize student achievement in the visual and literary arts in 29 categories, including editorial cartoon, poetry, graphic design, fashion, science fiction, video game design and more.

Todd does not typically do portrait photography, but was really impressed by her work. “I really hate taking portraits it’s my least favorite style of photography,” Todd said.

Todd’s assignment for photography class was to get a portrait. “My step dad volunteered to let me take a portrait of him,” Todd said. “In the picture he’s supposed to look homeless because I was trying to mimic the style almost of an artist named Lee Jeffries.”

Lee Jeffries takes photographs of homeless people who then became the subject of his art. The models in his photos are people he met in Europe according to YELLOWKORNER.com.

Todd said that she followed Jeffries high contrast style in her photo. “Ms. Kaplan[my teacher] really liked it a lot and some of the other kids were like ‘oh that looks so professional,’” Todd said.