Overview of the Reflections Program

The Reflections Program is a National PTA and Washington State PTA cultural arts competition. The purpose of this program is to provide an opportunity for students to use their creative talents by expressing themselves through their own original works.

Each year, Reflections challenges students to create art that supports a specific theme. Themes are selected from thousands of ideas submitted by students to National PTA's Reflections Theme Search. The 2003-2004 Reflections theme is: "I am really happy when..."

Young artists get involved in Reflections through their local PTA or PTSA. A student may submit an entry in any of four arts areas. Only original works of art are accepted. The four art areas are:

Literature - works of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, prose, drama, short stories and lyrics.

Music Composition - original musical composition, with or without words.

Photography - prints up to 11 x 14 inches in color or black and white, including techniques: photogram, retouched, montage, sandwich and multiple exposure.

Visual Arts - drawing, painting in tempera, oil, acrylic, watercolor & t-shirt paints, computer generated art, two-dimensional collage, printmaking, needlework & leather tooling.

In addition to these four categories that are recognized by National PTA, Washington State PTA offers two additional areas.  These works are judged at the state level, but are not sent on for further judging.  The areas are:

Film/Video - original works, with or without sound, of animation, narrative, documentary, experimental or music video/film.

Choreography/Dance - originally choreographed dance composition (recorded on VHS tape or DVD).

Participation in Reflections is organized by student age and grade levels. Student works are critiqued against others in the same grade division. This allows recognition and judging of artworks by appropriate developmental age and skill levels. The grade divisions are:

Primary - Preschool - Grade 2

Intermediate - Grades 3 - 5

Middle/Junior - Grades 6 - 8

Senior - Grades 9 - 12

Entries are judged on creative ability and interpretation of the theme. The Reflections Program is structured for PTAs to recognize students at the local, council, state, and national levels. Entries are first judged at the local level and selected works are chosen to represent the PTA at each subsequent level. If a PTA is a member of a council, they will send the chosen entries to the council program according to the guidelines established by their council.  If a PTA is not a member of a council, they will submit their entries directly to Washington State PTA.

When entries reach the state level, the state PTA may select up to five entries in each of the four arts areas (a total of 20) to submit to the National PTA. National first, second, and third place, and honorable mention entries are recognized at the National PTA Annual Convention.