MADISON – Any student with inclinations for any area of the fine arts can submit their work to National PTA Reflections.

PTA leaders opened the contest on Sept. 20. Schools will continue to accept Reflections works through Oct. 20. This year’s theme is “I Am Hopeful Because . . .”

The website, mcsarts.site/home, informs students in Madison City Schools about their Reflections designs. The site can answer questions about the entry categories, contest rules and submission guidelines.

Co-chairs for 2023-2024 MCS Reflections are Beth Green and Ricki Schwartz.

Six areas in the fine arts are open to students, who can enter projects in multiple categories:

* Photography – Must be JPG, JPEG or PNG file and at least 640 by 960 pixels at 300 dpi.

* Music composition — Must be MP3 or WAV file less than 1,000 megabytes. Middle and high school students also must submit a score, tablature (musical notation for finger placement) or technical explanation about the way they wrote music as a PDF file.

* Literature — Must be PDF file.

* Dance choreography – Must be MP4 or AVI file less than 1,000 megabytes.

* Film production – Must be MP4 or AVI file less than 1,000 megabytes.

* Visual arts — Must be submitted as digital photos of the work as JPEG, JPG or PNG file.

Last fall, Madison student Alice Grieve won local and state Reflections accolades and then advanced and won at the national level. Grieve is a fifth-grader at Mill Creek Elementary School.

Judges will give up to 40 points for the theme’s interpretation and 30 points each for the design’s creativity and artistic technique for a student’s skill level. An artist statement is required for judges to understand the student’s intention with their work.

Students must upload projects to mcsarts.site/home. Scroll and click the work’s category. Follow instructions to complete the upload. A Google account is required. If problems arise, email chair@mcsarts.site.

The “Special Artist” designation is open to students who identify as having a disability and may receive services under IDEA or ADA: Section 504, or the student can enter in the grade division most closely aligned to the child’s functional abilities.

To view last year’s national winners, including Alice Grieve from Mill Creek, visit pta.org/home/programs/reflections/awards. To see the National PTA’s tips for Reflections projects, visit pta.org/home/programs/reflections.

For more information, email chair@mcsarts.site or mcsptarelections@gmail.com.