TEMECULA -- James Baumann, a Temecula resident and 2006 graduate of the Idyllwild Arts Academy, was recently presented with a Scholastic Writing Award from the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers at its 83rd annual national awards ceremony at Carnegie Hall in New York.

Past recipients include Richard Avedon, Mel Bochner, Truman Capote, Robert Indiana, Joyce Carol Oates, Sylvia Plath, Robert Redford and Andy Warhol.

The Alliance received more than 250,000 submissions from which 850 artists and 400 writers received national awards. The stated mission of the alliance is, "To provide guidance and support for the next generation of artists and writers."

The jury is composed of professional artists, writers, curators, critics and educators from the nation's leading creative institutions. Jurors look for works that best exemplify originality, technical proficiency and the emergence of an authentic voice and vision.

Baumann has worked as a freelance journalist for newspapers for the past six years. His winning entry in Scholastic's Journalism category consisted of a portfolio of articles detailing the breadth of action sports from a variety of unique vantage points. The portfolio included articles on X Games preparation from the athletes' point of view, how a professional judge views the competitions and the making of a narrative film that used action sports as a vehicle to explore teenage emotional conflicts.

Baumann has been accepted into the School of Cinema and Television Arts at Cal State Northridge, where he will study filmmaking in the fall.

He had previously been awarded a scholarship from the Southern California Cable & Telecommunications Association.