What is Reflections?
The Reflections Program is a National PTA and WSPTA cultural arts competition. The purpose is to provide an opportunity for students to use their creative talents by expressing themselves through their own original works for the theme of "I am Hopeful Because"
Why Reflections?
Reflections is so much more than "just an art contest." It helps kids take risks, be inspired, think creatively, receive positive recognition, and be celebrated for their works of art. It also allows our community to celebrate creativity in our students! Studies have shown there is a relationship between the arts and health and well-being across one’s lifespan.
Be Inspired!
Watch and share our 2023-2024 Reflections Call for Entries video and participate in the I am Hopeful Because... Reflections program.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FlgjlxKQms
Watch and Learn
Watch this short Reflections introduction video to learn the basics of the program. Use #PTA Reflections to share this video and get our school community excited about Reflections!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuaoV5TyfBI&t=2s
Program Details
A student may submit an entry in any of six arts areas. Only original works of art are accepted. The six art areas are:
Literature: works of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, prose, drama, short stories and lyrics.
Music Composition: original musical composition, with or without words.
Photography: color or black and white, included techniques: photogram, negative sandwich, and multiple exposure.
Visual Arts: drawing, painting in tempera, oil, acrylic, watercolor & t-shirt paints, computer generated art, two-dimensional collage, printmaking, needlework & leather tooling.
Film/Video: original works, with or without sound, of animation, narrative, documentary, experimental or music video/film.
Choreography/Dance: originally choreographed dance composition.
Participation is organized by student age and grade levels. Student works are critiqued against others in the same grade division. This allows recognition and judging of artworks by appropriate developmental age and skill levels.
Special Artist Division
The National PTA special artist division is an option for students with a disability as defined under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Generally, rules and guidelines within the special artists division are intended to ensure accessibility to the National PTA Reflections® program and are modeled after the guidelines outlined in the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Reflections PTSA chair and council chairs will verify that artists meet this criteria before judging.
Complete details are included in the 2023-24 Special Artist Rules | en español.
How to Participate?
Step1 : Download the Student Entry Form and review the rules for your category
Note: If the download function does not work on your computer, you are able to Print - Save to PDF as an alternative.
Students may submit in as many arts categories as they would like, however, only one entry per arts category is allowed.
For official PTA Reflections Program Rules, please refer to 2023-24 Reflections Program Student Entry Packet above.
For detailed guideline of each category, please refer to the Category Guidelines above. Please contact us if you have any issues accessing the files above.
Step 2: Create your artwork
Students create their completed works of art in one or all of the available arts categories: Dance Choreography, Film Production, Literature, Music Composition, Photography, Visual Arts.
Step 3: Submit your artwork to North Creek High School PTSA by November 22nd, 2023 (Wed)
All submissions are to be submitted electronically by sending an email to reflections@northcreekptsa.com. You will receive an a confirmation back from us. If you don't receive a confirmation within 24 hours, please contact us immediately.
Each submission will need to have the Student Entry Form and a high-quality scan or digital photo of the art work or audio/video file as all artworks will be judged digitally. Photos need to have good lighting, angle, crop, etc. and have a file size that is able to be emailed to the reflections chair. 3D art will require additional photos for different angles and music submissions will need an extra notation file.
In addition to electronic submission, you are encouraged to submit actual physical 2D and 3D Visual Arts and Photography entries. If you would like to submit the physical arts, please email us to make an arrangement.
Your artwork will be judged at the Northshore Council level in December with the opportunity to move on to the State and National level if it qualifies.
Thank you so much for your participation and have a wonderful time to voice out "I am Hopeful Because…"!
Congratulations to the 200+ student artists who received national level awards for their artwork inspired by the 2022-2023 theme: Show Your Voice!
Head to our Reflections Awards page for more information!
Please send an email to reflections@northcreekptsa.com if you want to become our volunteer and help promote / coordinate the program.
If you support programs like this considering joining the PTSA to continue these programs.
