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Orange County Artist of the Year winners announced

April 30, 2023

For a 10th year, Artist of the Year shines a spotlight on high school students in Orange County.

The program was conceived in 2014 as part of the Orange County Register’s Varsity Arts initiative to acknowledge and celebrate student artists with the kind of recognition long bestowed on student athletes.

Dance: Jonah Smith, Orange County School of the Arts
Film and TV: Magdalena Aparicio, Yorba Linda High School
Theater: Selma Elbalalesy, Aliso Niguel High School
Instrumental music: Lucie Kim, Orange County School of the Arts
Vocal music: Adrianna Tapia, Santa Ana High School
Fine Arts: Alexandra Hernandez, Costa Mesa High School
Media arts: Zachary Cramer, Fountain Valley High School

Teachers from across the county helped develop Artist of the Year back then. They remain vital to its success by nominating students, serving as volunteers throughout the adjudication process and helping to shape the evolution of the program each year.

In that first year, the Register awarded honors in six arts disciplines. The winners emerged out of 113 students nominated from 50 schools.

What a difference 10 years has made. The growth and impact of Artist of the Year has exceeded expectations.

Artist of the Year has grown into a strong and vital platform for showcasing the talents and community contributions of student artists.

The program is now co-sponsored by Chapman University College of Performing Arts and the Register. This year 721 students were nominated by their teachers — public and private. They hailed from 78 local high schools and arts organizations.

And 2023 boasts seven artistic disciplines: Dance, Film & TV, Fine Arts, Instrumental Music, Media Arts, Theater, and Vocal Music. Each discipline was further divided into 30 specialties with finalists named in each.

Arts teachers and working professionals determine the winners.

“I believe the students involved see it as a genuine honor to be nominated, and those who make it to the next level of competition also see it as a genuine honor,” said Jim Kollias, chair of the visual and performing arts department at Beckman High in Tustin.

Kollias, an instrumental music instructor, was one of the teachers who worked with Artist of the Year producer Heide Janssen to design and launch the program. He’s remained involved year after year, helping with the judging.

Kollias credited Janssen’s vision and leadership for the continued success of Artist of the Year.

“Had she not been at the center of the program, it would have surely faltered by now,” he said.

At Beckman High, Kollias added, participating in Artist of the Year also has given both arts instructors and students a sense of the excellence around the county, something to gauge themselves against and “level up.”

“We study the videos and presentations,” he said. “This is the best and we want to be the best.”

The culling process for Artist of the Year is rigorous.

It starts with the teacher nominations. The nominees are asked to submit in writing what it means to be an artist and talk about their own creative journeys.

Those submissions get whittled down through subsequent rounds involving online scrutiny of performance videos, art portfolios, film samples and resumes.

Semifinalists are selected by arts teachers. (Previous stories in the Register named all 108 semifinalists for this year.)

At the end, comes the in-person judging by panels of community members who teach, perform, and guide the development of the arts in Orange County.

Whew!

The students who have been honored as Artist of the Year value both the encouragement and the recognition. At least 50 of the past winners responded to a request to share their post-high school artistic endeavors.

One of them, Hayoung Roh, a graduate of Orange County School of the Arts and the 2014 Artist of the Year for dance, now performs with the dance team for the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets, known as the Brooklynettes. She called winning Artist of the Year a “life-changing” experience that gave her the confidence to pursue dance as a career.

“The timing of the win was crucial in my case,” Roh said. “Especially during my senior year of high school where there were so many more questions than answers, it made me realize it’s not some far-fetched dream.”

To Janssen, giving young artists like Roh that boost is the main objective of Artist of the Year. But the program is also a nod to their instructors, she said.

“By shining a light on the talent and artistry of our top students every year, we are not only celebrating them and giving them the push to continue their artistic pursuits, but we are also, hopefully, highlighting the quality of the work being taught in the arts programs throughout the county.”

The sponsorship of Chapman University College of Performing Arts over the past four years has helped the program grow. The school has committed $25,000 a year toward general operating expenses and will help fund the 2024 competition.

Additional support comes from the university’s Dodge College of Film and Media Arts, along with other in-kind contributions that include providing the venues for the semifinalist presentations.

The public is invited May 10 to attend a 5:30 p.m. awards ceremony in Memorial Hall on the Chapman University campus, 1 University Drive, Orange. Top students from Artist of the Year will perform and present their work.

Meet the 2023 Artists of the Year. Click on the student’s name to read a profile and see other finalists in the category.

Dance: Jonah Smith, Orange County School of the Arts
Film and TV: Magdalena Aparicio, Yorba Linda High School
Theater: Selma Elbalalesy, Aliso Niguel High School
Instrumental music: Lucie Kim, Orange County School of the Arts
Vocal music: Adrianna Tapia, Santa Ana High School
Fine arts: Alexandra Hernandez, Costa Mesa High School
Media arts: Zachary Cramer, Fountain Valley High School

Orange County Register

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Orange County Artist of the Year winners announced

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