Pinellas Central Elementary Art Teacher Receives National Honor

PINELLAS PARK, FL — Pinellas Central Elementary School art instructor Judith Woodward is among only 15 art teachers nationwide to win the 2020 Artsonia Art Education Leadership Award.

The award honors pioneers in the art education community who continuously inspire their peers and engage students.

Woodward’s peers and Artsonia selected her among thousands of instructors as one of 15 national winners.

“I am honored to be recognized as a leader in arts education,” said Woodward. “I hope to inspire other art teachers to infuse fun and creativity into their art programs.”

Woodward has been teaching art in Pinellas Park for 11 years. She is one of thousands of art teachers from more than 100 countries who use Artsonia to showcase their student art, crowdsource lesson plans and help fundraise for their classrooms.

Artsonia, the world’s largest online student art museum with more than 75 million pieces of art, allows family and friends of student artists create and purchase organic keepsakes from the student art, and then gives back 20 percent of all revenue to the local art classroom.

“I love how Artsonia connects what we do in the classroom with our community. Our students love sharing their artwork digitally with their family members, both locally and globally,” Woodward said. “Every year, both the students and myself enjoy looking back at the work we have created, and reflecting upon the artistic growth that we have achieved.”

“Artsonia strives to provide art educators a platform to inspire one another,” said Jim Meyers, CEO and co-founder of the company. “We could not thrive without the commitment and ingenuity of teachers like Judith who use their online gallery and lesson plans to motivate others. This Art Education Leadership Award is a way for us to recognize the hard-working, passionate people who help our children create and cherish art and their creative side.”