IMPORTANT! 17th District currently does NOT have a Reflections Chair for the 2008-09 school year! If we do not have a Reflections Chair, none of the artwork within 17th District will be able to be sent on to compete at district, state, or national levels this year. Please contact us if you would be interested in filling this role so that our Reflections program may continue.

Reflections 2008-09: “Wow…”

Jump to: Background | Rules and Guidelines | Where do Entries Move On To? | Submitting Entries

Background

National PTA believes that all children deserve a quality arts education and encourages students to pursue artistic expression through participating in its annual Reflections Art Program. The Reflections Art Program is designed to enhance rather than replace a quality arts education.

Reflections was started in 1969, by then Colorado PTA President Mary Lou Anderson. Each year the Reflections Art Program challenges students to express themselves through words, music both instrumental and/or with voice, photography, drawing, painting, dance, and film/video. In its 37 year history over 10 million students have created original works of art through the Reflections Art Program.

Reflections is an art recognition and art achievement program designed for students to express themselves creativity through original works of art inspired by a pre-selected theme. Students Preschool, Kindergarten thru Grade 12 are encouraged to submit original works of art in six art categories.

The six categories are: Literature, Music, Photography, Visual Arts, Dance, and Film/Video.

The goal of Reflections is to encourage students to participate in exploring their individual artistic expression through their words, song and/or instrumental sound, photography, drawing and paintings, dance, and film/video. The guidelines and rules are available in both English and Spanish.

Participation is organized by grade division, and they are
Primary: Preschool, Kindergarten - Grade 2
Intermediate: Grade 3-5
Middle/Junior: Grade 6-8
Senior: Grade 9-12

Abridged Rules and Guidelines

Reflections chairs can find forms, rules, the Reflections Toolkit, and other important resources from the California State PTA website.

Need To Know Information:
1. All artwork must be the original work of one student only
2. Use of copyright material is prohibited
3. No plagiarism
4. Students may and can submit as many entries as they want
5.. Students may and can submit as many entries in as many of the art categories as they want
6. Comic Strips can be submitted as either Literature or Visual Arts
7. Photography and Visual Arts entries MUST be mounted
8. Every entry much have an attached Official Entry From.

Basic Supplies Needed:
1. Sheet Protectors (for Photography & Visual Arts)
2. Manilla (color) Folders (for Literature)
3. Large Paper Clip (for Literature)
4. Large Clasp Envelopes (for Music, Dance, Film/Video)
5. Blue painters tape
6. Staples and staplers
7. Pens

Official Entry Form:
1. Must be filled out completely
2. Must have BOTH student and parent sign it
3. One Entry Form must be attached to every submitted entry
4. Fill out the bottom box before making copies

All Entries:
1. Must be original works of literature, music, photography, visual arts, dance, and film/video
2. Must be the work of one student only
3. Each entry must have an Official Entry Form attached
4. NO LIMIT on how many entries may be submitted

Literature:
1. Fiction or Non-Fiction
2. Story, poem, prose, and/or drama
3. Must NOT exceed 81/2 x 11 paper
4. DO NOT mount/mat
5. Must not exceed over 2000 words
6. MUST HAVE a second copy attached

Music:
1. Composition for voice, instruments, or a combination of both
2. Not to exceed 5 minutes
3. Middle/Junior and Seniors: Required-notation, tablature, or electronic
4. Students do have to perform their compositions, or sing their songs, it can be preformed by more than one person and/or in a group.
5. Score size much not exceed 11 x 14
6. Band or Orchestra compositions scores may be 11 x 16
7. Must be recorded on an audiocassette or CED

Photography:
1. Black & White, Color, Collage
2. Student MUST be the one to took the photography
3. MUST BE MOUNTED OR ON A MAT
4. Must not exceed 11 x 14 (including the mount/mat)
5. No frames
6. No 3-dimension work

Visual Arts:
1. Print, drawing, paint, collage, photographic collage, metal etching, punch work or computer generated.
2. MUST BE MOUNTED OR ON A MAT
3. Must not exceed 24 x 30 including the mounted/mat)
4. Lamination discouraged
5. NO 3-Dimension work

Dance:
1. Maximum of 3 dancers may perform the choreography
2. Choreographer is not required to perform
2. If costumes are used, the choreographer (student) must also create the costumes)
3. Record on VHS videotape or DVD
4. Must not exceed 5 minutes
5. Music must be credited and documented

Film/Video:
1. Fiction, Non-Fiction, with or without sound
2. Student must be the director, screen writer, and cameraperson
3. If using a computer, the student MUST do all the work
4. If the student chooses to participate in the production, a camera on a tripod must be used.
5. All story boarding and editing must be done by the student
6. Categories: Animation, Narrative, Documentary, Experimental, Media presentations using computers
7. Must not exceed 5 minutes
8. Computer disk-EQuikTime, Windows Media, or Real/Video
9. Must be on videotape, DVD, or computer disk
10. Music must be credited and documented.

Promoting Reflections:
Just some ideas to start with:
Council Reflections Chairs make a presentation at the Council of PTAs Meeting
1. Invite last years Reflections participants with their art work to a PTA Meeting
2. Invite last years Reflections participants with their art work to a school assembly
3. Present a Power Point presentation to students, teachers, and parents
4. Talk to the students during Library time
5. Hold workshops during lunch time and/or during a PTA for students to work on their Reflections entry
6. Put posters up all around school
7. Have the rules, guidelines, and official entries forms available in the Front Office and Library
8. Put a Reflections section on the school website (with permission of course)
9. Send out flyers in the student envelopes
10. Make announcements during morning announcement time
11. Write an article for the school newsletter

Acknowledge Every Student: (some ideas)
All students who submit an entry must be acknowledged with a certification of participation.
1. Showcase all artwork in the library, LGI. front office.
2. Ribbons of participation
3. Hand out some sort of good
4. Write an article of the school newsletter
5. Put a page in the yearbook
6. Hold an assembly

Judging:

1. Entries MUST follow guidelines and rules
2. Will be judged on artistic merit, creativity, and interpretation of theme.
3. All judging is done by Blind Judging

Staying with the grass roots to encourage participation rather than the competition of the Reflections Art Program , and to be consistent to both State and National Reflections Program, please replace 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place with Outstanding Interpretation of Theme (approx. equivalent to 1st place), Award of Excellence (approx. equivalent to 2nd place), and Award of Merit (approx. equivalent to 3rd place). Honorable Mention may be used at the unit/school level only to honor other notable entries, but Honorable Mention entries do not move on to the next level.

Where Do Entries Move On To?

Units that are in-council will submit entries receiving Outstanding Interpretation of Theme, Award of Excellence, and Award of Merit on to their Council Reflections Chair (see below), and units that are out-of-council will submit these entries directly to 17th District. Councils will also forward all received entries on to 17th District; there is no judging at the Council level.

17th District will then judge these entries and the winning entries will be announced in February. All entries that 17th District received will be recognized at an “open house” event in spring (TBA), however only the Outstanding Interpretation of Theme winners from each division/category will move on to State PTA. Their winners will be announced in March, and will be on display at the State PTA Convention in Long Beach (May 2008). Entrants who receive Outstanding Interpretation of Theme at State PTA will be invited to attend Convention to receive an award, and these entries will move onto National PTA. National PTA winners will be announced in April/May and displayed at the PTA National Convention in San Diego (June 2008).

Where to Submit Entries To

Please submit your unit’s/school’s winning entries in a 23 x 30 portfolio. If you are in-council, they are due to your council’s Reflections chair by November 28th (Council chairs will then forward these entries on to 17th District by December 3rd). If you are out-of-council, entries are due to 17th District by December 3rd.
If you are in South San Francisco Council, please contact Karen Ochsenhirt for more information. If you are in San Mateo-Foster City Council, please contact Susan Bell for more information. More specific info on drop-offs will be provided at a later date.

If you have any further questions, please contact the 17th District Reflections Chair for more information.