High school senior Brett Cline of Blacksburg placed eighth in the national Art Institutes/Americans for the Arts “Art is a Global Language” poster design scholarship competition. The prize includes a $4,000 tuition scholarship to attend The Art Institute of Charlotte.

Cline is the son of Kimberly Cline of Blacksburg. He will graduate this week from Blacksburg High School and plans to study graphic design at The Art Institute of Charlotte.

In March, he won first place in the local competition and a $3,000 tuition scholarship to attend The Art Institute of Charlotte. His winning poster was entered into the national contest, in which he competed against 28 other local winners from across the country for tuition scholarships.  

The top 12 winners’ works will be used in a promotional calendar for Americans for the Arts, to be distributed to high schools across North America. Americans for the Arts also created an online gallery of all scholarship-winning artwork on its Web site (www.artsusa.org). In addition to the online gallery, the first-place national winner’s poster will be used in national marketing materials for Americans for the Arts.

The contest was open to graduating high school seniors interested in pursuing a career in design. Students submitted an original poster design, a current high school transcript and a statement describing their design process and why they want to attend one of The Art Institutes. An industry panel of judges selected by Americans for the Arts and The Art Institutes assessed each student’s poster based on specified criteria.