Twenty Mount St. Mary Academy art students competed at the 2025 Arkansas Young Artist Association (AYAA) Competition and Convention in Hot Springs on Thursday, April 16, where they took home 15 awards for excellence in the visual arts and ranked 7th overall out of 47 schools. Additionally, Ann Marie Nguyen ’25 received one of the $500 AYAA scholarships awarded at the event.
“We are immensely proud of all of our student artists,” Amber Uptigrove and Bryan Frazier, MSM art instructors, said. “They have worked endlessly to push their creativity and build their technical skill since August. It has been such a joy watching them grow and seeing their work evolve.”
MSM students spent months preparing for the annual art competition, creating approximately 60 works of art in a wide range of mediums, styles and subjects. Many of these pieces will be on display at Mount St. Mary Academy’s Arts Nite on Thursday, April 24, at 6 p.m. in the Sr. Deborah Hospitality Room.
Congratulations to our 2025 AYAA winners:
- Eli Dearworth ’26 – 3rd place in markers
- Caira Hess ’25 – 3rd place in digital art (abstract) and honorable mentions in digital art (realistic and expressive)
- Mia Hunt ’27 – 1st place in mixed media (realistic) and 3rd place in acrylic (realistic)
- Chloe Jacuzzi ’25 – 2nd place in markers
- Lindsey Morris ’25 – 1st place in fiber arts (expressive) and 4th place in sketchbooks
- Rosa Perez ’25 – 1st place in mixed media 2-D (abstract), 3rd place in printmaking/stencil (expressive) and 3rd place on site in marker/pen/gel pen
- Eva Pownall ’25 –3rd place in portraits expressive
- Milly Rodriguez-Avila ’27 – 2nd place on site in charcoal
- Aiden Tucker ’26 – 1st place in markers
AYAA is the largest organization of high school visual arts students in Arkansas, with over 60 high school chapters and more than 1,500 student members. Founded in 1979, its mission is to encourage participation in the visual arts by Arkansas students through professional speakers, competitions, exhibitions and scholarships.
