The Boston Globe Scholastic Art Award announced seniors Marissa Orifice’ and Isabel Zaia as the Gold Key winners and several Silver Key winners from Algonquin.

According to art teacher Michelle Sheppard, students have been participating in the Scholastic Art Award since at least 2005, and it is intended to help students gain recognition for their work.

“The competition has been going on since before I’ve taught here, and this is my eleventh year,” Sheppard said. “The organization wants to recognize artists and writers and provide scholarship to them, and they have all sorts of famous alumni.”

According to the website for School of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, works are judged on originality, technical skill, and personal vision or voice. Judges are not informed of the name of the student, the school he or she attends, or any information about him or her in order to eliminate discrimination and ensure Freedom of Expression.

Orifice’ received two Gold Key awards for each of her photography pieces, titled “It’s Insanity, to Say the Least” and “Late Nights.”

Orifice’ hoped to communicate her perspective on the modern day world through her works. Through her piece “Late Nights,” Orifice’ demonstrated to audiences an important message regarding society’s dependence on technology and social media.

“I wanted to show the importance of our phones to our generation and make people realize that we are attached to her phones because we feel like we need to belong- like we need to constantly be on social media or talk to people to feel like we fit in and that we mean something,” Orifice’ said.

Orifice’ was not expecting to win at all, let alone receive two awards. She hopes to pursue art school and feels that this achievement has increased her confidence in her abilities.

“I hope to discover who I am as an artist and to have my audience see what is most important to me through my work,” Orifice’ said. “I think winning the Gold Keys gave me a boost in my art confidence.”

Zaia received the Gold Key for her painting “Skin.” She reported that she did not create the piece with a message to the audience in mind, rather, she found inspiration from another work and crafted her own version of it.

“I just found a reference photo of a friend of mine, and I really liked the way the different colors reflected in the skin tone looked,” Zaia said. “I like the lighting and stuff, and I thought it would be fun to try to paint it to bring out the different shades. It’s mostly something I did for fun, to play around with color.”

Zaia points to the world that surrounds her as her main inspiration for her artwork. She was surprised upon receiving the Gold Key and feels that it improved her confidence in her work.

“In my artwork I like to show how I see things from my own perspective, and the way I interpret my surroundings,” Zaia said. “I was really surprised by my win, but I don’t think anything major has changed so far.”

Zaia’s and Orifice’s pieces will be submitted to National Medals, in which they will be competing with other Gold Key winners from around the country.

Silver Key winners include seniors Rachel Bemis, Katie Dobberpuhl, and Chloe Fay and junior Kate Hostage for their works in ceramics, photography, and drawing and illustration.

Dobberpuhl, who received an award for her micron pen illustration “Dragon Breath,” aimed to communicate to audiences the often overlooked beauty of nature.

“I could have drawn a bunch of animals on a square piece of paper and signed it, and this would have communicated my appreciation of animals and nature as well, but I wanted to capture the idea that nature is as important to us as breathing is to this dragon,” Dobberpuhl said. “We must recognize the importance of nature and its inhabitants-without them, we would not be alive.”

Dobberpuhl is extremely proud of her award and the effort it took to achieve it, developing both her technical skills and her ability to communicate her message along the way.

“I definitely plan on integrating art into a future career,” Dobberpuhl said. “Awards are positive reinforcement for the work I’ve been putting in, and they’ve definitely encourage me to keep working hard and developing my skills in the art field.”

Sheppard reports being amazed by the increase in self-confidence she has seen in those who have received awards. She feels that this upsurge of pride in students’ work embodies the purpose of the award.

“The confidence in the boost in the kids who win is just enormous, and sometimes it’s not always the students that we expect to win,” Sheppard said. “Sometimes it’s the students who are new to art who win the awards, which is awesome.”

Gold and Silver Key winners are invited to Museum of Fine Arts to attend a ceremony celebrating their works on March 12.

The following received Honorable Mentions:

Isabella Alex, “Nature Attacks Nurture,” Drawing and Illustration

Grace Antino, “Lonely,” Photography

Rafaela Coelho, “Escape,” Digital Art

Kiley Eckler, “Fame,” Photography

Nadine El Nesr, “Hair Slicked Back,” Drawing and Illustration

Caroline Folsom, “Boy and Brick Wall,” Drawing and Illustration

Hannah Grinblatas, “Evolving Sea,” Ceramics and Glass

Antonio Montilla, “Mushroom Wanderer,” Drawing and Illustration

Julie Rogers, “Untitled,” Mixed Media