For PTA Leaders

Arts Categories and Divisions

While Reflections offers six arts categories, your PTA can choose one or more of the available arts categories based on goals, capacity and community interest.

PTAs can also offer the Accessible Arts division as a participation pathway for students with disabilities. The division welcomes students of all ages and offers division-specific accommodations to ensure that every student has the chance to participate fully in the program.

Planning Tip

If new to Reflections, consider offering 1-2 categories to measure interest in your community. Popular starting categories are Visual Arts, Photography and Literature. After your contest, survey your community to find what other categories you should offer.

Learn More

Find details and national-level requirements for each category and the Accessible Arts division on our  Craft an Entry page. 

Program Timeline

If advancing entries, work backwards from the deadline to send entries to the next level. Program timelines generally look like the following, but each state may vary:

• April – August: Connect with state PTA to begin program planning and promotion
• September – October: Local PTA Launch, Deadlines and review
• November – January: District/council/region PTA deadlines and review
• January – February: State PTA deadlines and review
• March – May: National PTA deadlines and review

Planning Tip

Keep these timing considerations in mind:

• Give students roughly a month from your launch to submit entries.
• Depending on the number of entries you receive, organizing entries can take a day or a week.
• To set your review timeline, work backwards from the deadline to advance entries. 
• Give judges two weeks at minimum to review entries.

Artwork Collection and Review

You may collect physical or digital Reflections entries, based on state requirements and what is easiest for participants, families, PTA volunteers and volunteer reviewers. However, how you collect entries will affect how you review entries.

Consider the following to choose how you will collect and review entries: 

• Physical Collection and Review: Collect physical entries, including media entries on USBs, CDs, etc. Display works with titles and artist statements. Show media entries using a tablet or computer. Reviewers rotate and score each entry on a scoring sheet.

• Digital Collection and Review: Collect entries virtually (form, email, digital storage platform). Organize entries in virtual folders, assign numbers to each to keep anonymous. Share digital copies and scorecards. Score each entry and submit via email or form.

Planning Tip

National PTA recommends a digital collection and review process for easier management and preventing loss or damage.

Reflections Scoring Criteria

All levels of Reflections, including National PTA, use the same standard, consistent scoring system. This consistency is necessary to conduct a fair and organized review across the program levels.

To conduct your review, provide judges the official Reflections scoring criteria, as outlined in the Reflections Review Packet:

• Interpretation of Theme (40 pts.): How closely the piece relates to the theme, based on the artwork itself and the artist statement.

• Creativity (30 pts.): How creative and original the piece is in its conception of the theme and its presentation.

• Technical Skill (30 pts.): The level of skill demonstrated in the basic principles/techniques of the arts area.

Learn More

The Craft an Entry page provides tips and ideas to help students better incorporate the theme into their artwork. 

How to Host a Reflections Review

Understanding the steps involved in your review will make planning and hosting your review easier and more efficient.

After collecting your entries, follow these steps for how to host a Reflections review:

• Prepare Artwork for Review: Organize submissions by category and division for your review. Verify entries are eligible and meet program guidelines and requirements.
  

• Prepare Reviewers: Ensure reviewers are well-prepared and consistent in their evaluations by providing the Reviewer Packet and direct support throughout the scoring process.

• Collect Scores: Have judges record their points and share final scores to be verified. Double check all entries are scored on all criteria. 

• Find Winners: Combine points and rank the artwork to find your winners based on the award categories your PTA set. In the case of ties, the entry with the higher score for interpretation of theme wins.

Recruit Volunteer Reviewers

Seek arts professionals in your community who can score entries based on the criteria provided. If you don't know where to start, connect with an arts teacher at your school or a local craft store to better understand opportunities for connection in your community. 

Consider these tips to guide recruitment:

• Determine the number of reviewers needed. Aim for at least one reviewer per category, with extra judges for categories with many entries.

• Use personalize outreach. Send direct invitations to community members, parents and alumni with art backgrounds.

• Be transparent. In your recruitment and invitations, share high-level details explaining the role and time commitment so volunteers understand expectations.

• Encourage recommendations. Ask members and participants to recommend artists in their network who may be interested. 

Advance Entries for Recognition

PTAs are encouraged to advance finalists to the next level for additional recognition and, potentially, national-level review. Advancing entries opens pathways for students to receive more awards and prizes at higher levels and benefits your PTA through enhanced visibility and increased community pride.

How to Advance Entries

Reach out to your state PTA or the program leader of the next available level to find deadlines, directions and requirements for advancing entries. National PTA will not accept individual submissions or direct submissions from non-state PTAs.

Collect and Analyze Feedback

Take time to wrap up each program cycle by connecting with students, conducting evaluations, and planning for next year to ensure Reflections continues to thrive in your community.

Follow these steps to collect and analyze feedback that helps you building a strong, relevant and impactful program:  

• Collect Feedback: Use surveys or listening sessions to best engage your community. Find questions and prompts to guide feedback collection, in this Program Assessment Tool. Customize the questions based on your program.

• Analyze Feedback: Categorize feedback (participation, event organization, communication, overall satisfaction). Identify common themes, specific comments and recurring issues (e.g., logistical challenges, communication gaps).

• Document and Share Successes: Record what worked well (e.g., high participation, positive event feedback, successful promotions).

Share Your Success

Let your community know about key impacts and achievements in your Reflections program (e.g., high participation, positive event feedback, successful promotions) to encourage participation, recruit new volunteers for next year and grow your PTA membership.

Consider the following measures of success and create talking points or visuals (artwork, videos, theme materials) that you can use to showcase your program's success::

• Participation and Attendance Numbers: Provide statistics on student participation, broken down by categories and divisions, as well as attendees at your celebration event(s) to show community engagement. 

• Connect Impact to Membership: Use success to highlight the program as a key benefit of PTA membership

• Quotes and Storytelling: Share testimonials from students, parents and teachers to capture personal testimonies about the program's positive impact. Emphasize students who advanced or received special recognition as well as accomplished volunteer judges.

• Community Impact: Highlight how the program fostered pride and mention any local business or organization partnerships.

• Educational Connection: Show how Reflections supports educational goals and integrates with the curriculum. Mention teachers who used Reflections in their classroom.

Key Resource: Download and personalize Reflections-specific membership flyers from National PTA to make joining quick and easy.

Document and Plan for Next Year

Lack of connection between each program cycle hurts program integrity and leads to lowered participation and volunteer support. To ensure Reflections remains available to young artists in your community consider these tips when documenting feedback and sharing success: 

• Be Clear and Concise: Use simple language and short sentences to make your documentation easy to understand.

• Organize Information: Structure your documents with headings, subheadings, and bullet points for easy navigation.

• Use Templates: Create or use existing templates to maintain consistency across documents.

• Provide Context: Explain the purpose of the document and any background information needed to understand it. Include examples to clarify complex concepts or procedures.

• Make it Accessible: Ensure your documentation is easily accessible to those who need it, whether digitally or in print.