Nine South Tahoe High students in national art contest

What do Stephen King and Andy Warhol have in common with 13 students from South Tahoe High?

They all made it to the finals of the National Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. Warhol and King went on the win the national top prize, along with author Joyce Carol Oates and designer Zac Posen.

Could one of these local students be the next emerging star?

Christian Palacios, Tatum Whatford, Kiva McCollum, Jackson Kuzmik, Mikayla Heffner, Emily Doyle, Rachel Aronoff, Alexandria Balme and Annika Johnson all had their photography selected from over 30,000 entries from 13 states as western regional finalists, the third year in a row South Tahoe High has had students make it this far in the competition. Among the nine students, 18 pieces of their art have made it to the national level.

If their art is selected in this round, it goes on display at Carnegie Hall and the student(s) are invited to attend the gala and events surrounding the finals.

"This is a very prestigious honor and the third year in a row we have had students make it to the National level," said teacher Candi Lincoln. "Last year we had two students honored at Carneige Hall."

The STHS students submitted 62 pieces of art into the Scholastic competition, with 30 percent of those making it to the next stage of competition. The national average is just 3 percent of submissions being selected.

Lincoln is taking 20 of her students to San Francisco during winter break next week to photograph the Chinese New Year festivities.