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AAF Block Awards

The Robert J. Block Awards for Excellence in the Arts

Honoring and recognizing artists in each of Seattle’s 16 public high schools.

2021 Winners

The 2021 Allied Arts Foundation Block Awards Committee, chaired by Carey Page, congratulates the outstanding winners of this year’s awards!

Special thanks goes out to all the teachers and counselors who persevered against the COVID-19 school closures to make these awards happen. You are our heroes!

Download the complete 2021 Winners Report with teacher comments and award items.

2021 Block Award Winners Report PDF


Alan T. Sugiyama High School at South Lake

  • Cupreme BettonCupreme Betton — Visual Arts
  • Infinity Flores-BarillasInfinity Flores-Barillas — Visual Arts
  • Alex PhengphachanhAlexander Phengphachanh — Visual & Literary Arts

Ballard High School

  • Al JohnsonAl Johnson — Theatre Arts
  • Clara MooneyClara Mooney —Fine Arts
  • Mercedes TuckerMercedes Tucker — Music

Chief Sealth International High School

  • Leah Golan — Visual Art
  • Jonathan Laguna Medina — Literary Arts
  • Thurston “TJ” Stone — Visual Art

Cleveland STEM High School

  • Sarah Ernst — Music
  • Brooklyn JimenoBrooklyn Jimeno — Visual Arts: Photography
  • Eleanor Works — Visual Arts

Franklin High School

  • Yuki McKenzieYuki McKenzie — Visual Art
  • Dev Vasquez - Franklin HSDev Vasquez Gonzalez — Performing Arts
  • Frederick Von Brandenfels — Music

Garfield High School

  • Adenike Adejumobi — Visual Arts: Drawing
  • Ryan Tenu Ahn — Visual Arts: Painting
  • Sophia Chrysanthakopoulis — Visual Arts: Drawing


Ingraham High School

  • Bonnie HaBonnie Ha — Performing Arts: Theatre
  • Wesley KohashiWesley Kohashi — Visual Arts
  • Mollie McGibbon — Music

Interagency High School

  • Samara Jeffrey — Music
  • Kai Spratt — Visual Arts

Instructor and Block Winners!


Lincoln High School

  • Lucy LaybornLucy Laybourn — Visual Arts
  • Theo Pleasure ParkTheo Pleasure Park — Music
  • Drew Sherrard.Drew Sherrard — Theatre

Nathan Hale High School

  • Zya ByrneOxzyana “Zya” Byrne — Writing & Visual Art (tie)
  • Helena Goos Helena Goos — Writing & Visual Art (tie)
  • Denali NaylorDenali Naylor — Visual Art
  • Camille Pua'aCamille Pua’a — Music


Nova High School

  • Jha’Quez “JJ” Konick-Seese — Music
  • Kabir Kukathas — Visual Art: Animation
  • Tyler Prosch — Music

Rainier Beach High School

  • Alec Situ — Performing Arts
  • Arlo Wallis Blonde — Music: Band
  • Elias Welch — Visual Arts — Ceramics

Roosevelt High School

  • Hailey Green — Visual Arts (tie)
  • Brooke Lambert — Music
  • Skylar Lin — Visual Arts (tie)
  • Alice Watson — Theatre

Seattle World School

  • Magarsa Ahmed — Visual Arts: Drawing & Painting
  • Angel Martinez — Visual Arts: Drawing & Painting
  • Xuan Nhu Tran — Visual Arts: Drawing & Painting

The Center School

  • Bayla Cohen-Knott — Literary Arts
  • Jonas Dodge — Performing Arts
  • Audrey ShumanAudrey Shuman — Visual Arts

West Seattle High School

  • Nikhil Chhagan — Visual Arts
  • Kelton Hisatomi — Visual Arts
  • Helen Schlachter — Music

Our goal:

Allied Arts Foundation believes in the value of the arts as central to the life and vibrance of our community.  We believe this starts with supporting the arts in schools and encouraging the next generation of citizens and leaders.

We produce the Block Awards to ensure that student artists are recognized at their school’s year-end assemblies on par with athletes, academic achievers, and other student-body standouts. We aim to build artist’s resumes and bolster college applications.

It is with great pleasure that we get first introduction to Seattle’s budding artistic talent, and it is our wish to follow the progress of award recipients in the years to come.

About:

The Block Awards consist of:

  • A signed award certificate
  • A letter of achievement
  • A $200 check or Visa gift card
  • Cultural opportunities such as tickets to plays for performing artists, museum memberships for visual artists, studio recording time for musicians, etc.

Thank you to our donors:

The Block Awards are sponsored by:

Wolens Foundation     ArtsWAWyman Youth Trust  

  Glaser Fdn  NEA  Kongsgaard Goldman Foundation   4Culture   OAC    BNSF Foundation   Lucky Seven Foundation  Winderemere Foundation       Raven Foundation

In-kind donations of cultural opportunities and other artist-related items generously provided by:

King Youngblood  Frye Art Museum                  Chihuly Garden and Glass        Bellevue Arts Museum      Robert Lang Studios

Categories:

The Block Awards are given in four main categories (although, with the exception of ties, each school may only nominate three winners):

  • Performing Arts
    Including actors, singers, dancers, performance artists, stage managers, costume designers, lighting directors, etc.
  • Ben OrlinLiterary Arts
    Including fiction, nonfiction, poetry, spoken word, screenwriters, and other writing-related arts.
  • Musical Arts
    Including musicians, composers, conductors, band managers, studio technicians, DJs, and other music-related arts.
  • Visual Arts
    Including painters, printmakers, sculptors, ceramists, photographers, filmmakers, fiber artists, mixed media artists and other visual arts.

Nomination Process:

The Block Awards are not a competition and there is no application process. Winners are nominated by art teachers and school counselors. Winners may come from any high school grade level.

When possible, early nominations are made in November so that the award may be included on senior winners’ college applications. Awards are presented at the end of the school year at graduations and award ceremonies.

History:

When Allied Arts Foundation founder Robert J. Block (see below) set aside an endowment to fund the arts, it was understood that one of his chief passions was the encouragement of the young to pursue their art. In 1998, two years after his passing, Allied Arts Foundation founded the Robert J. Block Awards for Artistic Excellence to honor his memory and carry on his legacy of nurturing young artists.

Since then, over 1,200 awards have been given to young, promising artists in Seattle’s public high schools.

In 2017, thanks to important funding from Wyman Youth Trust, we doubled the award amount to $200 and began enhancing our awards with cultural opportunities donated by outstanding organizations such as Seattle Symphony,  Seattle Art Museum, Frye Art Museum, Bellevue Arts Museum, and Robert Lang Studios.

We welcome contributions  earmarked for the Block Awards to add incentive and encouragement for public high school youth in their artistic growth.

About Robert J. Block:

Robert J. Block

Described once by a friend as “the yeast in Seattle’s dough,” Robert Jackson Block was an activist’s activist whose strong opinions and bold ideas helped propel the city of Seattle toward the 21st century from the 20th century.

Read more about Robert J. Block

Along the way, he:

  • Helped guide the first bond issue that authorized the city to buy the land for the Seattle Center and the site of the 1962 World’s Fair
  • Helped found Allied Arts of Seattle and Allied Arts Foundation
  • Chaired and directed Cornish College of the Arts
  • Served as a founding trustee of Pilchuck Glass School
  • Chaired the Puget Sound chapter of the National Foundation for the March of Dimes and the Metro Campaign Committee,
  • Served on the board of the Seattle Public Library Foundation.

Mr. Block was born and raised in Seattle, and attended the University of Washington. After serving in WWII, he returned to the city, became an investment banker and founded National Securities Corporation, a discount brokerage firm where he served as chairman and CEO until retiring in 1993.

In 1967, Mr. Block ran unsuccessfully for seats on the Seattle Port Commission and Seattle City Council, but he also managed to find the time to successfully launch Allied Arts Foundation as a platform of support for its sister advocacy organization and for the arts community in general.

He accomplished all the above and much more while battling serious ongoing respiratory problems, complications resulting from a long bout with polio, and he succumbed eventually from a related stroke in 1996. Those who knew him will remember Bob’s brusque delivery, his devotion to Seattle, to politics, and to spirited debate. We are all beneficiaries of his legacy.

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2020 Block Award Winners

Special thanks goes out to all the teachers and counselors who persevered against the COVID-19 school closures to make these awards happen.

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2019 Block Award Winners

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2018 Block Award Winners

2017 Block Award Winners

Click here to view our 2017 winners

The 2017 Allied Arts Foundation Block Awards Committee, chaired by Virginia Wright, is proud to list the winners of the 2017 Robert J. Block Awards for Excellence in the Arts:

Ballard High School

  • Kaye Gill for Music – Orchestra, Jazz Band
  • Anna Volk for Visual Art
  • Samantha Scheiber for Theater Arts

Chief Sealth International High School

  • Evelyn Morales for Visual Arts
  • Benjamin Orlin for Music

Cleveland High School

  • Han Eckelberg for Graphic Arts
  • Karen Bravo Garcia for Art
  • Gina Nguyen for Music

Franklin High School

  • Yin Yin Xu for Visual Arts

Garfield High School

  • Benjamin Williams for Theatre
  • Jazzy Lyons for Music
  • Cora Andersen-Bicknell for Visual Arts

Ingraham High School

  • Emily Keogh for Music
  • Baoyi Ma for Visual Arts
  • Conner Walsh for Drama

Nathan Hale High School

  • Helen Koenig for Music
  • Marcella Petersen for Photography/Visual Art
  • Kenny Valenca for Visual Arts/Digital Arts/Music

Nova High School

  • Gabriel Schmid for Music
  • Ada Fujiita for Performance
  • Zora Seboulisa for Spoken Word
  • Audrey Irish for Visual Arts (tie)
  • Mae Calverley for Visual Arts (tie)

Rainier Beach High School

  • Amanda Dela Cruz for Visual Arts
  • Lionel Tukei for Visual Arts – Ceramics
  • Diego Reyes for Performing Arts – Theatrical Production

Roosevelt High School

  • Nicholas Kemmling for Visual Arts
  • Berkeley Loper for Theatre and Dance
  • Maya Hunter for Music – Choral
  • Finnian Allen for Music – Instrumental

Seattle World School

  • Gustavo Alfaro for Drama
  • Cielo Martinez for Graphic Art
  • Maraima Kante for Ceramics

South Lake High School

  • Miguel Perez Lucio for Visual Arts – Fine Arts
  • Devin Harris for Music – Singing
  • Jolinda Vivao for Visual Arts – Fine Arts

The Center School

  • Elizabeth Hughes for Visual Arts
  • Mitchell Gutierrez for Literature
  • Benjamin Schwartz for Visual Arts

West Seattle High School

  • Meir Parent for Drama
  • Leonard Purcell for Music
  • Lily Foucault for Visual Arts

Programs

  • Grants for Artists
  • 501.c.3 Fiscal Sponsorship
  • High School Artist Awards
  • Poetry Award
  • Music Scholarships

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Allied Arts Foundation is supported by:

  • 4Culture
  • Amazon
  • ArtsWA / National Endowment for the Arts
  • Glaser Foundation
  • Kalman & Ida Wolens Foundation
  • Lucky Seven Foundation
  • Piroshky Piroshky
  • Raven Foundation
  • Seattle Office of Arts & Culture
  • Windermere Foundation
  • Wyman Youth Trust
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