Two Long Beach High School seniors have been selected by the Long Island Arts Alliance as two of the twenty Awards of Merit winners in the Scholar Artist Awards program. Congratulations to Lea Jaffe and Kristen Miciotta for earning this achievement in the categories of media arts and fine arts, respectively.

The awards program recognizes students judged to be the “best of the best” on Long Island in both academics and the arts. Lea and Kristen were selected based on their portfolio work and ability to meet specific academic criteria.

Lea submitted her collection of photography, for which she has received numerous awards in previous years. Among her past honors are an award of excellence at Nassau Community College’s "What Matters" Art competition, a second place award in the “Cell” Yourself Friday contest presented by the Professional Women Photographers organization and an honorable mention in the LI Arts Council’s High School Competition for the digital photography “High 5” category.

She has taken the high school’s photography courses for the past three years, took International Baccalaureate Film last year and is currently enrolled in IB Visual Arts. She is also a member of the National Honor Society, serves as stage manager for the stage crew and is on the executive board for Model Congress. Lea plans to study film in the future.

Kristen entered an assortment of her photographs, drawings and paintings. She has also received many past acknowledgments, which include an honorable mention in the Huntington Camera Club's High School Competition, selection to the Heckscher Museum of Art’s juried exhibition, a third place award for the digital photojournalism category of the Photographic Foundation of Long Island Youth Showcase competition and a Scholastic Art and Writing Awards honorable mention.  

This year, she is taking Advanced Visual Studies and IB Art HL 2. In the past, she has completed the school’s courses in ceramics, studio in drawing, studio in painting and photography. Kristen works for Arts in the Plaza and plans to study art education in the future.

Both students were recently recognized at a Sept. 8 reception and will be formally acknowledged at the LIAA Gala later this school year.