From Feb. 25 to April 16, the Dallas Museum of Art (DMA) will showcase art, music compositions and art history essays of 16 West students who won the Young Masters Competition.

“Young Masters is an awesome show highlighting the best high school artists from our region,” Advanced Placement (AP) Drawing teacher Sarah DePetris said. “There are usually about 50 individual art works at the show and Plano West has 10 visual art students.”

While everyone in art classes is encouraged to submit a piece, only a few make it past the many stages it takes to win Young Masters.

“The submission is online, and if they like it you get a bunch of paperwork,” junior and Young Masters finalist Sanjay Salem said. “If you get in, you send in a physical copy of your artwork.”

The finalists of the competition get their work displayed in the DMA, a major art museum in downtown Dallas. Those who won the Studio Art section of the competition will have the art displayed, while those who won the Art History or Music Theory will have their essay or composition displayed.

“The exhibition is in the DMA’s main concourse gallery so it’s a huge opportunity for our students,” DePetris said.

Young Masters is a long process; the duration of the entire competition and exhibition is six months long. The competition happens in October, they choose the finalists in November and the exhibition is from February to April.

“I’ve done a few competitions before, but I have never won, so I really wanted to win Young Masters,” Salem said. “I didn’t really know if I would make it in, and when I did I was shocked because of how big of a competition it is.”

Students are judged by some of the most prestigious specialists in the region. In order to produce optimal results in the competition, the art teachers help refine the students’ pieces.

“Students select their best work from class as well as a written statement that describes the concept behind it,” DePetris said. “They judge them based on the digital photos of the works.”

These AP students work all fall semester to select a piece for the competition. The students discovered they were finalists in November, and their work will be displayed in a major museum in just a couple weeks.

“In order to have your piece selected you have to put a lot of work into your art, so perseverance and hard work are attributes that a person should have to enter this competition,” senior and Young Masters finalist Tiffany Ouyang said.

The dedication the students put into their work is visible when they get to see their work displayed in an actual museum alongside other accomplished artists such as Monet or Van Gogh.

“I really thought that I wouldn’t have a chance because they tell everyone to just submit in just in case,” Ouyang said. “When I was chosen as a finalist I thought maybe I did have a chance of getting this. When I actually won I was beyond ecstatic because my work would be in the DMA.”

The award-winning art pieces of 16 Plano West students will be display at the DMA soon.

“The pieces in the show are of excellent caliber,” DePetris said. “It’s a truly diverse selection of works. They always pick things that have a unique vision and media.”