Scholarships

2025 VAMA SCHOLARSHIP

2025 VAMA SCHOLARSHIP

Welcome to the online home for the 2025 VAMA Scholarship. The application submission window is currently open until 4/17/25 11:59 p.m. Use this page to submit scholarship application to any number of scholarship categories.

About the scholarship

The 2025 VAMA Scholarship recognizes student excellence in art, photography, illustration, design, journalism, and art history. The scholarship is open to all students in good standing with active course attendance who explore creative practices and produce work as part of their studies at Los Angeles City College, via any course offered by the Visual And Media Arts Department.

Work submitted by scholarship applicants are judged on artistic, creative, and scholarly merit. Work is judged by the faculty of the Visual and Media Arts Department. Students who are awarded the VAMA Scholarship have their work exhibited in a VAMA Scholarship Show at VAMA Gallery.

The scholarship and exhibition is hosted by the faculty of the Visual And Media Arts Department at Los Angeles City College, with support from the Los Angeles City College Foundation.

For more information or questions about the scholarship program, email Amarpal Khanna, chair of the Visual and Media Arts Department, at khannaa@lacitycollege.edu

Important Dates:

  • 4/3/25: Online application opens
  • 4/17/25: Last day to submit applications (at 11:59 p.m.)
  • 4/18/25: Faculty judging begins
  • 4/21/25: Faculty judging concludes
  • 4/22/25: Winners are notified by email
  • 4/23/25: Winners work drop-off begins in Room DH205
  • 4/30/25: Winners work drop-off concludes
  • 5/7/25: Award ceremony 12 p.m. - 1 p.m.; Reception 5 p.m. - 7 p.m.
Online application

The application submission window is currently open until 4/17/25 11:59 p.m. Use the form below to submit scholarship application to a specific scholarship category. You may submit to multiple categories by using the form again.

ARTIST NAME

Please enter your name. Use the spelling, spacing, and capitalizations as you prefer. If you win a scholarship or are included in the exhibit, the name displayed with your work will be based on what you enter here.

PERSONAL EMAIL ADDRESS

Please indicate the best personal email address to communicate with you.

SCHOOL EMAIL ADDRESS

Please indicate your LACC email address to communicate with you.

MAILING ADDRESS

Please indicate your complete mailing address. The scholarship committee uses the submitted address to mail scholarship checks in the event the submission wins a scholarship. Make sure the address, city, state, and ZIP code are included.

PHONE NUMBER

Please indicate the best phone number to communicate with you.

STUDENT ID

Please indicate your LACC student ID

SCHOLARSHIP CATEGORY

Please select a category for this scholarship application. (If you want to submit to several scholarship categories, you can, just complete this one and return to this page to submit another.)

The courses listed are advisories for those categories, you should have taken at least one of the courses listed to apply for that category.

For example, if you’ve taken Art 201 you can apply to the scholarship category Studio Art - Year 1.

Studio Art - Year 1

This category recognizes studio art work created in VAMA art classes Art 201, 501, 502, 209, 250.

Portfolio requirements: Presentation of 5 works.

2D Studio Art

This category recognizes intermediate and advanced 2D studio art work created in VAMA art classes Art 202, 204, 300, 301, 304, 305, 306, 307, 308, 309, 400, 401.

Portfolio requirements: Presentation of 5 works.

3D Studio Art

This category recognizes intermediate and advanced 3D studio art work created in VAMA art classes 700, 701, 702, 708, 709, 710.

Portfolio requirements: Presentation of up to 8 works.

Photography

This category recognizes photography work created in photography program courses Photo 7, 10, 15, 16, 20, 49, 107, 501.

Portfolio requirements: Presentation of up to 8 works.

Graphic Design

This category recognizes work created in graphic design Art 250, 501, 604, 605, 606.

Portfolio requirements: Presentation of 6 works.

Animation and Game Design

This category recognizes work created in animation and game design courses, including Animation 218, Art 250, 634, 636, 648, 649, GAD 101.

Portfolio requirements: Presentation of 6 works.

Illustration/Storyboard

This category recognizes illustration and game design work made in art courses Art 204, 620, 621, 649.

Portfolio requirements: Presentation of 6 works.

Art History

This award will be presented to a student who, among other distinctions, has demonstrated particular commitment to their art history work. This category recognizes scholarly work and artistic expression made as part of Art History courses 110, 120, 130, 151, 170.

Minimum quals:

  • 4 - 7 pages
  • Paper analyzes the formal, iconographic, and contextual characteristics of the art object
  • Paper includes a cover page with images of art object, artist, title, date, medium, and object location
  • Paper is formatted and cited in Chicago Style or MLA with a bibliography
  • If the paper was completed in conjunction with a presentation, please submit the presentation

Portfolio requirements: Papers or presentations reflecting art history work.

Henry Walton Award

This scholarship is designed to provide assistance for a disadvantaged student who has overcome significant obstacles to attend college and is pursuing a degree in photography or majoring in journalism, or whose work has been published in the Collegian or Collegian Times Magazine, or who is currently enrolled in Cinema 501 or Photo 501 with Professor Marlos.

Portfolio requirements: Presentation of 5 works. Essay submission required; see below.

ART COURSEWORK HISTORY AT LACC

Please list all the Visual and Media Art courses you've taken at Los Angeles City College.

Include the course number, course name, instructor name, semester, and year.

ART COURSEWORK HISTORY OUTSIDE LACC

Please list any art classes you've taken at another college.

Include the college name, course number, course name, instructor name, semester, and year.

PORTFOLIO

Please submit your portfolio materials, either by uploading a portfolio PDF, or submitting a link to your online portfolio. Only work produced as part of LACC coursework is allowed for this scholarship.

Upload Portfolio PDF (maximum filesize allowed is 30MB)

When preparing a portfolio PDF, make sure you design and lay out work do be descriptive and informative. Please make sure each piece is accompanied with the following text information: Title, Medium, Year, Size (Height x Width [x Depth if applicable]), class made. Particularly important is noting which course a work was made for, please make sure to include this information.

Examples: [1] Falling Leaves, Archival Inkjet Print, 2021, 8.5 inches x 11 inches, Photo 7; [2] Balloons, Acrylic Paint, 2020, 24 inches x 24 inches, Art 305.

Links to tutorials on how to make a PDF art portfolio: From Adobe, CLIP guide, YouTube. Good luck!

Remember the maximum filesize allowed for upload is 30MB. If your portfolio PDF has to be larger, consider hosting your portfolio on cloud storage and submitting portfolio link, see next option.

Submit Portfolio Link

You may provide link to your online portfolio. Remember it can be a link to your portfolio on Google Drive, One Drive, or a web site. Make sure the website portfolio is adequately formatted for a formal portfolio review. Make sure a could storage link is set to allow anyone with link to view. Any problems with your link will mean your work is inaccessible to judges and the application is likely to not score very well in judging. Particularly important in your portfolio materials is noting which course a work was made for, for every work, please make sure to include this information.

Add Portfolio Description

You may use the description textbox if you would like to also list additional information about the works included in your portfolio. Particularly important is noting which course a work was made for, please make sure to include this information.

HENRY WALTON AWARD STATEMENT

If you are submitting this application for the Henry Walton Award, please include an essay statement (250 words max) on how to you have overcome tremendous obstacles to pursue a photography or journalism degree at Los Angeles City College. We recommend you write your essay in another program and then cut-and-paste text into this submission textbox.

EXHIBITION PREFERENCES

Please review these exhibition preferences, which confirm your intent to submit your work to share with others via the scholarship's exhibition and related programming, communications, and marketing.

If I win, I want my winning work to be a part of the physical exhibit at VAMA Gallery and will be prepared to bring to exhibit organizers the physical work as described in my submission materials by the artwork delivery deadlines issued by the exhibition curators.

I agree to have my submitted work exhibited online on the VAMA Gallery website and on VAMA social media.

Proofread your application before clicking the submit button!