HAWKINS, Texas — A Hawkins High School student, who passed away in a wreck this past weekend, will have his digital artwork on display at a New York City museum exhibit in June after he earned a prestigious national art award earlier this year.
Jaykob Dodd, 16, won a national gold medal at the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards for his art piece titled "Mother Father Earth," Hawkins ISD announced in a Facebook post in March.
But he passed away after a head-on collision on FM 14 on Saturday about one mile north of Hawkins, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety.
He is among 58 art and writing students in Texas and 2,000 in the entire country who received this award.
The Scholastic awards, founded in 1923, is the oldest and most prestigious art and writing contest in the country. Previous recipients of these awards include renowned artists and writers Ken Burns, Sylvia Plath, Andy Warhol and Amanda Gorman.
Elizabeth White, Dodd’s digital media teacher, said she mentioned the award to him several years ago and he said he'd like to go to New York City. So she encouraged him to work hard.
It took him almost a full school year to complete this piece of art. White said this piece includes various pieces of nature overlapped by two individuals.
"He took pictures of pinecones and here in the studio with a white back drop and he took pictures of trees outside," White said. "Then he took pictures of students in the backdrop and then he had to collage those together on Photoshop."
Dodd was very skilled in what he did with digital art and White said his piece was destined for greatness.
Instantly I knew it was very, very good," she said.
A GoFundMe was set up to help him get to New York so he could see his own art piece.
"He was just really excited about going to New York and he was just excited about everything," White said.
Dodd was set to receive his gold medal at Carnegie Hall in New York City during a ceremony Thursday, according to the award group's Facebook page.
In a statement, Allyson Barkan, a spokesperson for the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards program, said program officials are sending their deepest condolences to the family, friends and community of Dodd.
"His original work, which received a National Gold Medal in the Digital Art category, inspired us all and is currently hanging at Scholastic’s headquarters in New York City as part of the 2023 national art installation of the Scholastic Awards," Barkan said.
Barkan said Dodd's award will be acknowledged in Scholastic Art & Writing Awards' Yearbook publication, as well as the program for this Thursday’s award ceremony at Carnegie Hall.
His art will be on display at a museum in New York throughout June.
The Scholastic Art and Writing Awards honor students' achievements in visual and literary arts in 28 categories, including painting, novel writing, mixed media, poetry, digital art, journalism and more, according to the awards' website.
Hawkins ISD said there are counselors on hand Monday for students or staff in need. The school district also canceled summer school classes for Monday.