Santa Clarita Sister Cities, in partnership with the city of Santa Clarita, has announced the winners of the 2025 Young Artists and Authors Showcase.

The local winners include:

Art (Classic Medium)

Claire Holt (SCVi) – The Global Heartbeat

Brenda Lee (Valencia High School) – Piece by Peace

Art (Digital Medium)

Rinoa Toledo (Rio Norte Junior High School) – Friendship: The Heartbeat of Global Peace

Shriya Srinivasasubbu (Academy of the Canyons) – The World in our Hands

Essay/Creative Writing

Kayton Wickremasuriya (Saugus High School) – Fostering Unity and Peace Across All Nations

Sydney Kasahara (Saugus High School) – The Language of Friendship

Poetry

Jessica Jin (West Ranch High School) – The Power of Shared Memories

Susmit Das (Academy of the Canyons) – Friendship: The Heartbeat of Global Peace

Music (Original)

Chloe Pichereau (Academy of the Canyons) – Summerdays

Gina Intravartolo (West Ranch High School) – Together

Photography

Savannah Gomez (Hart High School) – Sunset Harmony

These outstanding student submissions, along with those of other Santa Clarita finalists, were submitted to Sister Cities International in Washington, D.C., where they competed against more than 340 entries from 10 countries around the globe.

Two students representing Santa Clarita Sister Cities won at the international level:

Sydney Kasahara (Saugus High School) – The Language of Friendship

Chloe Pichereau (Academy of the Canyons) – Summerdays

The annual YAAS gives youth the opportunity to express their vision for a more unified, peaceful world through original artwork, music and literature. The 2025 Showcase encouraged youth to submit entries inspired by the theme, “Friendship: The Heartbeat of Global Peace,” highlighting the power of friendship to foster understanding, collaboration and peace among nations.

Community members can view these students’ winning entries on SantaClaritaSisterCities.org. The international winners are featured on Sister Cities International’s website, SisterCities.org.

The Santa Clarita Sister Cities program is a local organization with a mission to foster international partnerships between the city of Santa Clarita and cities abroad, as well as promote mutual understanding, friendship and cooperation through reciprocal youth, cultural, educational, professional, humanitarian and economic programs and exchanges. Sister Cities International is a non-profit organization created by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1956 to foster partnerships among communities around the globe and encourage peace through mutual respect, understanding and cooperation, one individual, one community at a time. The city of Santa Clarita has international Sister Cities in Tena, Ecuador and Sariaya, Philippines.

The artwork attached to this press release is Piece by Peace by Brenda Lee. For more information, please visit SantaClaritaSisterCities.org, contact Tyler Pledger at (661) 286-4176 or email SisterCities@santaclarita.gov.