The Youth Friends Award is a biennial award presented by The School Art League to a professional artist at it’s awards ceremony at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The 2021 Youth Friends Award was given to artist Pilar Newton-Katz for outstanding service to art education and inspiring young artists to recognize their creative potential. This award acknowledges the Honoree's talent, imagination, integrity, and the generosity of time given to New York City art students.

Pilar Newton-Katz is an animator, cartoonist and educator that got her start doing animation production art on shows such as Courage the Cowardly Dog for Cartoon Network and MTV’s Daria. After starting her small Brooklyn based production company PilarToons, LLC she became a professor at the City College of New York whre she teaches animation. She also teaches animation at the School of Visual Arts where she also completed her MFA in Visual Narrative in 2020. She just completed her first graphic novel.

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Past Recipients of the Youth Friends Award

2021………Pilar Newton-Katz
2019……… Jean Shin
2017……..…Lady Pink
2015……….Maira Kalman
2013……….Annelle Miller
2011……..…Danny Simmons
2010……….Julie Mehretu
2009………The Guerrilla Girls
2008………Pepon Osorio
2007……….Melvin Edwards
2006………Tom Otterness
2005………Xu Bing
2004………Kay Walkingstick
2003………Rochelle Shicoff & Janet Braun-Reinitz
2002………Fred Wilson
2001……..…Whitfeld Lovell
2000………John Pinderhughes
1999……..…Gail Anderson
1998……..…Marshall Arisman
1997……..….Norma Kamali
1996……..…Emilio Cruz
1995……..…Bruce Degen
1994……..…Juan Sanchez
1993……..…Duane Michals
1992……..…Randolph Williams
1989……..…Louis Cancel
1988……..…Robert Blackburn