The Orange County Register announced the list of nominees for the annual Artist of the Year program, and CUSD had 101 students nominated in the seven categories. There will be 16 semifinalists selected in each discipline, followed by the winners and finalists in April.

Students were chosen by a panel of teachers based on written statements, performance videos or design portfolios, and artistic resumes. This year, when students filled out their portion of the nomination application, they were asked to list their strongest specialty in this discipline. In past years, teachers chose this for them.The nominees are listed below with an endorsement from their nominating teacher, the identification of their strongest specialty and a link to their work. Those students missing their specialty and link did not complete their application, however, they are still considered nominees because they are being honored by their teacher and school.

During the final round of adjudication, students are interviewed by a panel of distinguished artistic professionals and faculty members from Southern California universities as well as a few representative high school teachers. Interviews include a live presentation by the students followed by a question-and-answer session.

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