Overture Awards 2025 Scholarship Competition Reveals Winners

The Cincinnati Arts Association has revealed the winners of its Overture Awards Competition, held on Saturday, March 15, 2025 at the Aronoff Center’s Jarson-Kaplan Theater, and the recipient of its Arts Educator Award for Excellence in Arts Instruction. The competition awarded $4,000 to six area students for education and training, $2,000 each to the 18 runners-up, and $1,000 to the Arts Educator Award recipient.
 
The Overture Awards recognizes, encourages, and rewards excellence in the arts among Tri-state students in grades 9-12 and is the area’s largest solo arts competition. Students are nominated by their schools and/or private studios to compete in one of six disciplines: Creative Writing, Dance, Instrumental Music, Theater, Visual Art, and Vocal Music. There are three levels of competition: Regional, Semi-Final, and Final.
 
The Arts Educator Award promotes and rewards excellence in arts instruction throughout Greater Cincinnati. An educator who teaches any of the following arts disciplines may be nominated: Creative Writing, Dance, Instrumental Music, Theater, Visual Art, and Vocal Music. A nominee may be a high school arts specialist, teaching artist working with high school students, or an arts professional or educator providing private lessons or instruction. Nominations are submitted by students between the ages of 14-19 who are currently enrolled in high school and competing in that year’s Overture Awards.
 
The Overture Awards Regional Competitions were held virtually in January 2025. The top thirty percent of competitors in each discipline advanced to the Semi-Finals, which were held at the Aronoff Center from February 12-15, 2025.
 
Now in its twenty-ninth year, the Overture Awards was launched in 1996 by the Cinergy Foundation (now Duke Energy) and Leadership Cincinnati (a program of the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber). The Overture Awards is funded and administered by the Cincinnati Arts Association and relies on hundreds of volunteers from the community who help raise funds, adjudicate, manage the competitions, and nurture the program.

2025 OVERTURE AWARD WINNERS
 
CREATIVE WRITING:

Evelyn Jeong, grade 9, Talawanda High School

HOMETOWN Oxford, OH – Evelyn has loved reading and writing for as long as she can remember, spending all of her free time reading books and crafting stories that combine her passion for fantasy and mental health. With goals of becoming a clinical psychologist and author, she hopes that all of her tales provide three important things: perspective, critiques of society's largest problems, and escape from the exhausting rhythms of every day.
 

DANCE:  

Audrey Zuziak, grade 12, Dixie Heights High School / Strive Dance Collective
HOMETOWN: Independence, KY – Audrey has been dancing since the age of three. She has won numerous awards, received a perfect score on a solo, and was an Overture Awards finalist. She plans to attend college for nursing and become a travel nurse.
 

INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC:  

Angela Tang, grade 10, William Mason High School / Studies with Joel Smirnoff
HOMETOWN: Mason, OH – Angela has been playing the violin for ten years. She is the assistant concertmaster at the CSYO Philharmonic Orchestra and was one of the finalists in the CSYO Concerto Competition. Angela is the state winner of MTNA Competition and Buckeye Audition. She played as a soloist with Blue Ash Montgomery Symphony Orchestra as the winner of the 2024 competition. Outside of music, Angela loves astronomy, creative writing, and photography, and is an active member of her school's Science Olympiad Team.
 

THEATER:  

Jai’Den Pritchett, grade 10, Sycamore High School / Musical Arts Center
HOMETOWN: Cincinnati, OH – Jai’Den has been a part of musical theatre since he was seven. He studies voice with Mr. Karl Resnick and loves the mentorship and guidance he has received. Jai’Den won the Best Overall Performance award at the 2024 SHS Variety Show. He has been in many shows with Aves Theatre, including Willy Wonka Jr. (Charlie), Footloose: Youth Edition (Ren), Freaky Friday (Ensemble), Guys and Dolls (Sky), the current production of Between the Lines (Prince Oliver/Edgar), and the upcoming Mamma Mia! (Ensemble). He plans to major in Musical Theatre after graduation.
 

VISUAL ART:  

Allison Droege, grade 12, William Mason High School
HOMETOWN: Mason, OH – Allison has been creating art for six years, specifically fine-tuning her main media of alcohol marker and colored pencil for the past year. She has earned a national award from Scholastic as well as five Gold Keys for a portfolio and additional works. She plans on going to college to pursue Mechanical Engineering in the fall.
 

VOCAL MUSIC:

Eden Bee, grade 12, Turpin High School

HOMETOWN: Cincinnati, Ohio – Eden is a senior at Turpin High school and has been doing musical theatre since elementary school. She loves to sing and act and do musical performances outside of school. She plans to major in musical theatre in college.
 
 

2025 ARTS EDUCATOR AWARD RECIPIENT
 

James Braid, Private Instructor
Discipline:  Instrumental Music
Nominated by Kieran Niska