HIGH cost for higher education is a BIG story everywhere in the news right now and it especially hits home in our own state. High school students have just started school again, but it's never too early to start planning for college-and worrying about the task of how to pay for it!

Scholarships are available, especially for athletes and students with straight A's, but what about kids who have more artistic talents? It's time for those students to draw on their talents and submit their work to The 2009 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards!

The Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, a nonprofit organization dedicated to bringing outstanding visual art and writing created by teenagers to a national audience, has launched a nationwide call for submissions to the 2009 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. The Awards offer early recognition for creative teenagers and art and writing scholarship opportunities for graduating high school seniors.

Seniors who win a national A&W Award are eligible for scholarships - $500 to full tuition - at more than 50 colleges, universities and art institutes, across the country. Each year, $3.25 million in art and writing scholarships are made available to select national award recipients, including 12 high school seniors who are honored with the National Portfolio Gold Award, and a $10,000 cash award.

The annual Scholastic Art Awards competition begins locally on October 1st, as students from all areas of Maine, grades 7-12, register online to submit works of art in a wide array of categories, including: sculpture, fashion design, painting, jewelry, drawing, animation, ceramic and glass, analog and digital photography, computer art, printmaking, video and film. The entries are submitted to Heartwood College of Art in Kennebunk, Maine, the regional affiliate for the entire state. A panel of local jurors comprised of artists, educators and arts professionals evaluates the pieces.

If a student receives a top Award from the Maine Art Awards, then he or she moves on to the national level. Each year, the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers in New York City receives thousands of works of art and writing, submitted by regional affiliate programs nationwide.

Heartwood College of Art as the Maine Affiliate for this program - This is Heartwood College of Art's first year as the Maine Art Affiliate for the Scholastic Art Awards. HCA is honored to host this annual event at the state level because it gives Maine students a venue for exhibiting their art locally and nationally and it provides an opportunity for students to receive scholarship money. What's more, this awards program showcases the high level of the art teachers and art programs in Maine.

Heartwood College of Art in Kennebunk, Maine, is a non-profit organization and is one of only two colleges in Maine solely focused on the visual arts. HCA offers two-year Associate and four-year Bachelor of Fine Arts degree programs at an affordable tuition.

Affordable Tuition is what Maine families need but HCA does even more to encourage kids to seek a higher education - especially in art. As Berri Kramer, President of Heartwood College, put it: "We are determined to put our money where our heart is." How does HCA do this?

Heartwood College of Art offers scholarships to one senior from every high school in Maine who is the first from their school to be accepted and attend, HCA. And it's not just 2009 graduates who benefit. HCA offers this every year! That means that about 150 Maine students - every year - have the opportunity to receive college scholarship funds. For more information on Heartwood College of Art visit their website at: www.heartwoodcollegeofArt.org

Since Scholastic founded the program in 1923, more than 13 million of America's most talented teens have participated in the Scholastic Awards. Two and a half million of these young artists and writers have been recognized through exhibition and publication and have shared in more than $25 million in cash awards and college scholarships.

Distinguished artists and writers who received an Art & Writing Award when they were in high school include Andy Warhol, Robert Redford, Sue Miller, Richard Avedon, Philip Pearlstein, Zac Posen, Joyce Carol Oates, Tom Otterness, Robert Indiana, Sylvia Plath, John Lithgow, and Joyce Maynard.

To learn more about submission guidelines and deadlines in your region and how to submit work, please visit www.registration.artandwriting.org or go to www.heartwoodcollegeofart.org and click on the Scholastic Art Awards 2009 link.