East Brunswick High School Student Named 2025 YoungArts Award Winner

EAST BRUNSWICK, NJ — An East Brunswick High School student has been named a 2025 YoungArts winner with distinction in Classical Music/Violoncello, the highest honor of the organization.

Matthew Ho has been recognized for the caliber of his artistic achievement and joins more than 800 accomplished young visual, literary, and performing artists from throughout the country.

“We’re thrilled to award our largest-ever cohort of artists, selected from a record-breaking number of applications this year,” YoungArts President & CEO Clive Chang said.

“We hope this recognition provides these young people with the encouragement to keep pursuing their artistry, and the assurance that YoungArts will be there as a source of support and community for the rest of their lives.”

YoungArts award winners are selected through a highly competitive application, reviewed by panels of esteemed, discipline-specific artists.

Ho joins a group of accomplished artists such as Daniel Arsham, Jon Batiste, Terence Blanchard, Camille A. Brown, Timothée Chalamet, Viola Davis, Amanda Gorman, Denyce Graves, Judith Hill, Jennifer Koh, and Hunter Schafer.

As a winner with distinction, Ho will participate in National YoungArts Week, to be held January 5-12, 2025, in Miami.

During the week, participants have opportunities to share their work, which is further evaluated for awards of up to $10,000; experience interdisciplinary classes and workshops; and receive mentorship from leading artists in their fields.

The 2025 winners with distinction will have the chance to learn from notable artists such as ballerina Misty Copeland, dance artists Rashaun Mitchell and Silas Reiner, actress Lorna Courtney, multidisciplinary artist Brian Ellison, and National Bestselling Author and Filmmaker Abigail Hing Wen.

Ho is eligible to be nominated to become a U.S. Presidential Scholar in the Arts, one of the highest honors given to high school seniors by the President of the United States.

YoungArts nominates 60 artists to the White House Commission on Presidential Scholars, from which the 20 U.S. Presidential Scholars in the Arts are selected.

This year'sYoungArts award winners were selected from nearly 11,000 applications across 10 artistic disciplines – classical music, dance, design, film, jazz, photography, theater, visual arts, voice and writing. Each award winner will receive a monetary award of $250.

For the duration of his career, Ho is eligible for exclusive creative and professional development support, microgrants and financial awards, and presentation opportunities in collaboration with major venues and cultural partners nationwide. He is also eligible to become part of an intergenerational network of more than 22,000 past award winners. A complete list of the 2025 winners, all 15–18 years old or in grades 10–12, is available online at youngarts.org/winners.

The YoungArts competition is open to artists 15-18 years old (or in grades 10 – 12). For more information about becoming a YoungArts award winner click here.

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