Eleven students from the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District (PYLUSD) have been named 2026 Artist of the Year Finalists by The Orange County Register, representing a distinguished group of young artists from El Dorado, Yorba Linda, Esperanza, and Valencia High Schools across multiple artistic disciplines.
Now in its 13th year, the Artist of the Year program is open to junior and senior high school students and is co-sponsored by The Orange County Register in partnership with Chapman University College of Performing Arts, Segerstrom Center for the Arts, Pacific Chorale, Pacific Symphony, and Arts Orange County. The program recognizes excellence in the arts while providing students with opportunities to further develop and showcase their talents.
Following the initial nomination phase, the competition advances to a semifinal round in which students are evaluated by panels of distinguished arts professionals and faculty from Southern California colleges and universities. During this phase, participants present their work live and engage in reflective dialogue regarding their artistic processes, influences, and future aspirations.
To promote equitable access and representation, students compete within two divisions based on their level of formal training. Division I includes students with extensive experience in their discipline, while Division II is designed for those with fewer years of training. This structure ensures that emerging artists are recognized alongside their more experienced peers.
This year, the program received 888 nominations, from which 108 students advanced as semifinalists. Finalists and Artists of the Year will be announced during a live awards celebration on May 13 at the Samueli Theatre, located on the campus of the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa.
The District extends its congratulations to the following students for this outstanding achievement:
Film & TV
Joyce Chang, Senior, El Dorado High School Division 2: “Animation was my segue to filmmaking and I cannot be more overjoyed that my love for animation and film fuels my artistic vision to this day. My work in many artistic online projects as an animator and editor alike in my spare time has been my expression of creativity, a main source of my identity as a creator of many skillsets that I value deeply in myself.”
Skylar Snyder, senior, Yorba Linda High School, Division 1: “Art has always been a two-way street. The artist sends a message, and the audience responds. Film expands that exchange by adding a team. A single vision grows into something larger through the hands of many, with each person contributing their creativity and passion. That shared effort is what gives film its power. Without emotion, there is no art. Without art, emotion has nowhere to go. Film brings people together, not only through the stories we tell, but through the process itself.”
Fine Arts
Lucius Acker, Senior, Esperanza High School, Division 1: “Art isn’t so much a message as it is a process. Every artist must love their process, no matter how tedious it is because being an artist means you have greater capacities to love. It means that you knowingly pursue what you love to do, and process your feelings through that love as if it were the only way. The best I can do is live through my process and the products that come out of it will speak for themselves.”
Mal Lake, Junior, Valencia High School, Division 1: “My goal is to tell stories with my art, most likely in the form of graphic novels. Even if this might seem like an unrealistic goal, I know that I’ll always be creating things, even if I can’t do it as a profession because I enjoy the process of creating art and I hope that others might also find value in the things I create. My ultimate objective is just to create something that people might love as much as I love the art made by my favorite artists.”
Damian Slavkov, Senior, Valencia High School, Division 2: “My work takes inspiration from many different aspects of my life, and more notably from other potters I have seen online. I love watching videos of other people creating, my imagination running wild with ideas, evoking the giddiness I wrote about earlier. One day, I hope to make others feel what I feel when watching these videos. I want to get others just as excited about ceramics and pottery as I have. I hope to become a master of my craft, developing a distinct style that anyone well-versed in the pottery world would notice.”
Instrumental Music
Casey Cunningham, Junior, Yorba Linda High School, Tenor, alto, and baritone sax, Division 2: “Learning and trying to master a musical instrument takes an immense amount of time, effort, and struggle, things I never understood or valued growing up. But as I grew older and tried to get better at saxophone, the time and struggle I had made me realize the effort of others around me. Whenever I saw a good soccer player or basketball player, all I would think is that were lucky to be in the position they are in. I would fail to see the work they put in to get a chance to be where they ended up.”
Gracie Fox, Junior, El Dorado High School, Drumset, Division 1: “As a musician, I am an artist … a creator. My passion for creating music runs deep within me. Through my drumming, others catch a glimpse of my soul. An artist helps people feel emotions deep within their body. To be an artist is to help spread hope and peace to the world by sharing the joy of music.”
Jack Lewis, senior, El Dorado High School, Trumpet in Bb, Division 1: “Beyond music, I am deeply involved in athletics. At my high school, I’m on the varsity lacrosse team; after school, I’m a blue belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu; and at home, I powerlift. These activities are all very physical, but also very thought provoking. Music has always helped me dive deeper into what these activities require from me mentally. With music, sometimes I have to achieve an almost meditative-like state to really analyze certain parts of it.”
Media Arts
Sarah Trinh, Senior, El Dorado High School, Division 1: “(I’ve) had a passion for art that came from my dad. Before I could properly hold a pencil, I’d watch him draw my favorite cartoon characters. Art was originally a way for me to connect with my father, and I naturally fell in love with drawing. My passion for illustration eventually overflowed into every aspect of my life, as anything from my wardrobe to school projects became an outlet for my creative expression. Graphic design has even infiltrated my academics — my class notes are carefully crafted to be visually appealing, and I’ve often hand-drawn different fonts to make section titles stand out and made demonstrative illustrations, which make notes look more like infographics.”
Theater
Nathan Song, Senior, Yorba Linda High School, Division 1, Yorba Linda HS: “I want to grow as an artist through work that challenges me to evolve both creatively and personally while allowing me to make meaningful connections with others. I hope to create theatre that explores human nature and shared experiences, focusing on emotions that are universal and deeply recognizable, because I believe this kind of work has the greatest impact on an audience. I want my work to remind people that they are not alone in what they feel and to create moments of honesty and reflection that linger beyond the performance.”
Vocal Music
Erica Lee, Junior, Valencia High School, Division 1: “Being able to call myself an artist is deeper than telling people I sing — it means that I am able to communicate with my heart. Furthermore, being an artist doesn’t mean constantly creating perfect, beautiful pieces. Being an artist also means to accept that while I will have days of flow where I absolutely love everything my voice is giving, I’ll have more days where I struggle to find the motivation to keep going, the stamina to stay in hours of rehearsals, or the confidence to know it’s worth it. But in the end, even if I can’t find the motivation, I do keep going.”
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