About

The YoungArts application is open to US citizens and permanent residents ages 15–18 or in grades 10–12, submitted online each fall with a deadline in early October. Adjudication is blind and conducted by discipline-specific panels of professional artists, producing two tiers: the YoungArts Award, for work that exceeds peer level, and the YoungArts Award with Distinction, reserved for work that far exceeds peer level. All winners receive a minimum cash prize of $250. Winners with distinction — approximately 169 in 2025 — are invited to National YoungArts Week, a weeklong all-expenses-paid intensive in Miami each January where participants share work, are evaluated for additional cash prizes up to $10,000, and train with artists of the caliber of Debbie Allen, Mikhail Baryshnikov, and Wynton Marsalis. High school seniors at National YoungArts Week are eligible for nomination as U.S. Presidential Scholars in the Arts — one of the highest honors granted to graduating seniors by the President of the United States — a pathway YoungArts anchored as the sole nominating agency from 1982 through 2025.

The award level is what determines the credential's weight. Roughly 7–8% of applicants receive any recognition; the distinction tier represents approximately 1.5%. That threshold — not the broader award — is what admissions offices at conservatories, BFA programs, and selective universities recognize as a serious signal. For arts-track students, distinction-level recognition at YoungArts is the strongest external credential available at the pre-college level, backed by a professional alumni network of more than 22,000 working artists.

The YoungArts Award with Distinction is the target for any serious artist in grades 10–12 — the strongest pre-college arts credential in the country.