The National YoungArts Foundation Scholarship: A Comprehensive Guide

The National YoungArts Foundation is a prestigious organization dedicated to supporting young artists across the United States. It identifies and nurtures emerging talent through its national arts competition, providing award winners with invaluable opportunities for growth, learning, and networking. This article delves into the details of the YoungArts program, focusing on eligibility, application process, awards, and the long-term support offered to its winners.

About YoungArts

YoungArts is a national organization headquartered in Miami. It supports current and past winners of its prestigious arts competition, and does not offer classes to the public. YoungArts programs are exclusively for current and past award winners and include classes with notable guest artists in their fields. YoungArts funds the programs it operates to support award winners and is supported by the generosity of individuals, corporations, foundations and city, county, state and national entities. Donations to YoungArts are tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law and are determined by the value of the goods or services received. YoungArts strives to ensure that all of their online spaces and in-person events are accessible.

Eligibility Criteria for the YoungArts Competition

To be eligible for YoungArts programs, you must be a current or past YoungArts award winner. The YoungArts competition is open to emerging artists who meet specific age and grade requirements. For the 2026 application cycle, artists in grades 10-12 or ages 15-18 on December 1, 2025, may apply, provided they have a US social security number. Award winners who have previously attended National YoungArts Week may not apply under any discipline or category. However, award winners who did not attend National YoungArts Week are eligible to re-apply in any discipline and category provided they meet all other eligibility requirements.

Application Process: A Step-by-Step Guide

Applying to the YoungArts competition involves an online application, audition or portfolio submission, and payment of an application fee or fee waiver documentation. The deadline for the 2026 application cycle is Wednesday, October 8, 2025 at 8 PM ET/5 PM PT.

Online Application: The application asks for basic contact information and education information. Materials are uploaded as part of the online application process. Even small files may take some time to upload, so it is recommended not to wait until deadline day. You may begin an application and come back to it at a later time to complete.
Discipline and Category Selection: The YoungArts competition includes ten disciplines across the visual, literary and performing arts. Applicants may apply in as many disciplines and categories as they would like, noting that there is an application fee for each application submitted. Each discipline and category has its own media submission requirements.
Application Fee and Fee Waivers: The application fee for applying to YoungArts is $35. Fee waivers are available to applicants, which covers the $35 application fee. To have your fee waived, a letter from a parent, guardian, teacher, counselor, or principal can be uploaded in the application. The letter should simply state “(Applicant’s name) is in need of waiving the $35 fee for their application” along with the name of who wrote the letter and relationship to the applicant. You may pay your application fee with a credit card in the application portal.
Submission Guidelines: While you will not be disqualified, it is recommended that you either edit out or remove your name from videos and/or artwork wherever possible to ensure a fair adjudication process. As a policy, YoungArts cannot comment on specific pieces, as part of the application process is choosing materials that show your strengths as an artist while meeting each of the requirements. We recommend following the guidelines as closely as possible and using your best judgement. Please note, if you do not follow the guidelines, you are doing so at your own risk. You may submit work that has been previously published or sent to other competitions. We do not require exclusivity of our applicant’s work and YoungArts does not own copyright of any submitted work.
Evaluation Process: Your submission is evaluated on its own merit in an adjudication process that includes multiple rounds of review. In each round, a national pool of artists review and evaluate materials within their respective specialties.

YoungArts Awards and Recognition

YoungArts recognizes hundreds of the most promising artists with national awards each year. Beyond award designation, winners have the opportunity to participate in life-changing programs that consist of learning experiences with some of the most accomplished artists in each of our ten disciplines. They are able to connect with a rich network of peers and showcase work through performances and exhibitions. Joining a 20,000-strong network of past award winners, artists connect with peers who have attended many of the top universities and conservatories across the country and have become leading professionals in their fields.

Types of Awards

YoungArts Award: The YoungArts Award recognizes work that demonstrates exceptional technique; a strong sense of artistry; and a depth of thinking/performance that exceeds the level of peers at this career stage. YoungArts award winners receive a monetary award of $250.
YoungArts Award With Distinction: The YoungArts Award With Distinction recognizes work that demonstrates exceptional technique; a strong, sophisticated, nuanced, and clear artistic point of view; and a depth of thinking/performance that far exceeds the level of peers at this career stage. Winners at this level are invited to participate in National YoungArts Week and will have their work further evaluated for cash awards of up to $10,000.

Our panel may select winners to be awarded for multiple levels in multiple disciplines and categories.

Financial Literacy Program

All 2026 competition winners and winners with distinction must complete the Artist Resource Collective financial literacy program for young artists (YoungARC) in order to receive their cash award. Classes are broken into 20-minute blocks, totaling 3.5 hours of instruction.

Opportunities for Award Winners

YoungArts provides various opportunities for award winners to enhance their artistic development and careers.

YoungArts Lab

2026 award winners at all levels are invited to participate in YoungArts Lab in Los Angeles, CA and New York City, NY. Dates are to be determined. Participants are chosen by lottery. Opportunities include skills-building workshops, masterclasses, residencies and professional opportunities designed to help advance artists’ careers and build their networks. YoungArts covers airfare, hotel for overnight programs, ground transportation within the program city, and meals for the program duration.

National YoungArts Week

Winners with distinction are invited to participate in National YoungArts Week. Many YoungArts programs, such as National YoungArts Week, are designed to take advantage of the deep collaboration, learning, community-building and experimentation that takes place in person. Our goal is to provide an equitable and meaningful experience for all selected participants.

Read also: Eligibility for National Awards

Health and Safety

YoungArts retains on-site nurses and mental healthcare professionals to address the wellbeing of all participants. Should a medical need require further care, nurses will accompany participants for doctor, urgent care or hospital visits.

Content Advisory

While many of our events are family-friendly, often times the human form, clothed and unclothed, as well as strong language, is included in the artistic material presented. Use your discretion when deciding whether a particular event or performance is suitable for your children.

Long-Term Support for Alumni

All award winners are eligible for a lifetime of support. Our community is made up of over 20,000 past award winners, many of whom are gifted artists and have attended top colleges, universities and conservatories across the country and have become leading professionals in their fields. Others have chosen more unconventional paths such as creating their own programs, performance spaces, publishing houses, dance companies and more to explore their artistry and push the boundaries of their practice.

The YoungArts community is here to provide individual support for every past winner to reach their full potential in their artistic careers. To learn more, set-up a profile and/or visit YoungArts Post-a free, private, online platform designed for award winners to connect, share their work and discover new opportunities.

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