Does your child have a passion for art or a creative flair?

If so, they might enjoy participating in this year’s Reflections program, a National PTA art initiative. At Sunny Hills, we celebrate all our young artists, and in recent years, many of our entries have advanced beyond the Council or State level of the competition.

 

The 2024-2025 Reflections Theme: "I Belong!"

Sunny Hills Entry Deadline: October 31, 2025

Reflections is a National PTA arts recognition program that helps students pre-K through grade 12

  • explore their own thoughts, feelings, and ideas
  • develop artistic literacy (by describing how their art relates to a theme)
  • increase confidence
  • find a love for learning that will help them become more successful not only in school but in life.

Students create original works of art in response to a theme. The theme for 2025-2026  is “I Belong!” Themes are selected from student submissions. Any PTA/PTSA in good standing may sponsor the program. Students may only submit entries through a PTA/PTSA. Only students that attend school with a PTA/PTSA may participate. Parent groups not affiliated with National PTA are not eligible to sponsor this program.

Students may enter in one or more of the available arts categories. Finalists from local PTAs will move on to their council PTA (if applicable), then finalists from councils will advance to the state round. Washington State PTA finalists who receive an “Outstanding Interpretation award will advance to the National PTA round.

Program Details:

Young artists get involved through their local PTA or PTSA. A student may submit an entry in any of six arts areas. Only original works of art are accepted. The six art areas are:

  • Literature – works of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, prose, drama, short stories and lyrics. Entry must not exceed 2,000 words.
  • Music Composition – original musical composition, with or without words. 
  • Photography: color or black and white, included techniques: photogram, negative sandwich, and multiple exposure. Print images should be between 3x5 to 8x10 inches and  digital images: at least 640x960 pixels and 300 dpi resolution.
  • Visual Arts: drawing, painting in tempera, oil, acrylic, watercolor & t-shirt paints, computer generated art, two-dimensional collage, printmaking, needlework & leather tooling. A maximum finished size of 18x24 inches.
  • Film/Video: original works, with or without sound, of animation, narrative, documentary, experimental or music video/film. 
  • Choreography/Dance: originally choreographed dance composition.

Participation is organized by student age and grade levels. Student works are critiqued against others in the same grade division. This allows recognition and judging of artworks by appropriate developmental age and skill levels. The grade divisions are:

  • Primary: Pre-school – Grade 2
  • Intermediate: Grades 3 – 5

Please note that a significant part of the scoring is based on the artist's statement (included on the entry form) explaining how the piece relates to this year's theme. This statement must be written in the student’s own words.

Full program details can be found on WA State PTA Reflections page or National PTA Reflections page.

Please follow the steps to submit your entry:

  1. Completed Student Entry Form (If you need help printing a form, please email our Reflections Art Chair at reflections@sunnyhillspta.org)
  2. Electronic submissions before or on October 31, 2025 (Google account required)
  3. And bring your artwork to Sunny Hills office before or on November 3, 2025.

*  Videos and audio recordings must not exceed 5 minutes or 1,000 MB. 

*  There is no need for physical submission for digital arts. 

*  Framed artworks are not accepted. 

*  If a student is submitting multiple entries (in different categories), please make individual submissions for each entry.

Each year, National PTA seeks a theme for the Reflections program year to be held two years from now.  The student submitting the winning entry receives $100 and their theme is presented at the annual National PTA Convention.  Click here for a list of past themes.

WSPTA holds an annual contest to determine Washington’s entries to the national theme search. The deadline for the 2027-2028 WSPTA Reflections Theme Search Contest is Monday, November 3, 2025.

Only students that attend a school with an active PTA/PTSA may participate in the theme search contest.

For additional information, questions or concerns email reflections@sunnyhillspta.org.

Reflections Chair - Tracy Chen