REFLECTIONS & SCHOOLS OF EXCELLENCE PROGRAM ENROLLMENT IS NOW OPEN!
Every student has a story. Every culture has a story. Reflections gives students the opportunity to tell theirs.
Deadline:
Saturday November 14, 2026.
Reflections is a National PTA-sponsored program that encourages students to express themselves through the arts. Students can submit work in the following six categories: Dance Choreography, Music Composition, Literature, Film Production, Visual Arts and Photography. Student submissions are reviewed by independent third-party judges and are evaluated on artistic skill as well as interpretation of the theme. The winner in each category advances to the County level, then possibly to the State level and finally to the National competition. This year, similar to last year, entries will be digital.
This year’s theme is — “What My Culture Means to Me”
Please carefully review all the rules and guidelines (English/Spanish) and pay particular attention to the following additional rules:
Dance and Film: if background music is used, citation is required
Literature: include word count, entries must be less than 2,000 words
Music: list musicians and/or instrumentation, entries must include music and a score
Photography and Visual Arts: list dimensions and medium used for visual arts (ie. charcoal,watercolor…)
Dance, Film and Music: recordings must not exceed 5 minutes, file size must not exceed 1,000MB Describe technology/platforms used in the creation process, including any
generative elements.
To see how each entry will be judged, see the Judges Rubric.
Pay close attention to your theme interpretation as this is awarded the most points.
More information about specific rules for each category can be found here:
LIterature Rules (English/Spanish)
Visual Arts Rules (English/Spanish )
Photography Rules (English/Spanish )
Dance Choreography Rules (English/Spanish )
Music Composition Rules (English/Spanish )
Film Production Rules ( English/Spanish)
Special Artist Rules (English/Spanish )
This year’s deadline is Saturday November 14, 2026
If there are any problems with the above Reflections Submission Form, please feel free to use this Fillable Submission Form (English/Spanish) and upload the form along with your entry and email it to reflections.chair@tjptsa.org.For more information visit the VA PTA Reflections Page or the National PTA Reflections Page. If you have any questions, please contact the Reflections program Chair Meredith Caldwell at reflections.chair@tjptsa.org .