HSPVA student Patrick Zapien celebrates with sponsoring art teacher Eileen Montgomery after being named as a Scholastic Art & Writing Gold Medal portfolio winner.

Six Houston ISD students have won national awards for their entries in the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards.

High School for the Performing and Visual Arts student Patrick Zapien is a gold medal art portfolio winner, which earned him a $10,000 scholarship.

Two other HSPVA students also placed in the competition. Cassie O’Sullivan and Sidney Tennant are silver medal art portfolio winners, along with Carnegie Vanguard’s Silvia Pera. Bellaire High School student Ester Chang won a gold medal in the art individual entry category.

One HISD students won in the writing competition. T.H. Rogers student Sarah Haughland won a silver medal for a personal essay she submitted.

All of the winners have been invited to a celebration at Carnegie Hall in New York City on June 6. The Empire State Building will feature gold lighting that night to commemorate the event.

Scholastic Art & Writing is a 91-year-old competition. Former winners, as teens, include Andy Warhol, Truman Capote, Sylvia Plath, and John Updike.