The Orange County Register is proud to announce the 2023 nominees for the Artist of the Year program.
Designed as a companion to the annual high school Athlete of the Year honors, this program honors top junior and senior artists in Orange County.
In 2013, the first year of the program, 113 students were nominated, representing 50 schools. This year, 721 students were nominated, representing 78 local high schools and arts organizations.
Based on the most recent data collected by the California Department of Education, 80,221 juniors and seniors were enrolled in Orange County in the 2021-2022 school year, indicating that this year’s class represents the top 0.9% of all juniors and seniors in the county.
With the Artist of the Year program noow in its 10th season, 4,946 students have been nominated.
Students are nominated by arts teachers and private instructors in seven different disciplines: theater, dance, film and TV, vocal music, instrumental music, media arts and fine arts. Within these disciplines, students have been nominated in specific specialties that highlight the area in which they are the most accomplished. For instance, a theater student may be nominated in either acting, musical theater performance or theatrical design.
Following this initial nomination, a panel of arts educators will narrow down the lists and choose up to 16 semifinalists in each discipline to move on to a round of in-person interviews with arts professionals and arts faculty from Orange County universities. The semifinalists will be announced on April 23. The top Artist of the Year for each discipline, as well as finalists in each specialty, will be announced on April 30.
An awards ceremony will be held at 5:30 p.m. May 10 in Memorial Hall on the Chapman University campus that will be free and open to the public. This event will include performances and presentations by the top students.
This program is in the fourth year of a generous sponsorship from the Chapman University College of Performing Arts. Chapman has committed $25,000 a year for general operating expenses.
“There is nothing more important for us at the College of Performing Arts at Chapman University than to foster interest in all the arts among the young people of our community. We all believe in the arts as a path to a meaningful life, no matter what the students might end up doing as a career, because active participation in the arts teaches you a variety of skills and opens your mind.” said Giulio M. Ongaro, dean of Chapman’s College of Performing Arts. “For this reason, we are extremely happy to partner once again with OC Artist of the Year to honor the best young artists of Orange County.”
All students nominated are listed here with the school or arts organization that they represent. Find this story online at ocregister.com to read endorsements from the students’ teachers and links to samples of the students’ work.
To view the complete list of nominees for each discipline, endorsements from the students’ teachers and links to samples of the students’ work, click on the links below.
