Max Johnson, an 18-year-old senior at Falls Church High School, was announced as a recipient of the 2015 Portfolio Gold Medal Award on Monday by Alliance for Young Artists & Writers. Johnson was one of 16 high school seniors from across the nation to receive the highest honor of the Scholastic Art & Writing Award program, which includes a $10,000 cash scholarship.

This year more than 300,000 works of art and writing, a record-breaking number of submissions, were submitted to the program, according to Scholastic’s blog. Johnson and the rest of the winners of the contest will now gain access to exhibition and publication opportunities, including the the Art.Write.Now.Tour, National Exhibition and Best Teen Writing.
They will also gain access to other scholarship opportunities from colleges and universities across the nation. Former alumni of the Scholastic Art & Writing program include Andy Warhol, Sylvia Plath, Richard Avedon, Stephen King, Richard Linklater, Zac Posen and Lena Dunham.

Johnson will be honored along with the other scholarship winners in New York City on June 5. For more information, visit artandwriting.org.