What is Reflections
The Reflections Program is a National PTA arts recognition program that helps students explore their own thoughts, feelings and ideas, develop artistic literacy, increase confidence, and find a love for learning that will help them become more successful not only in school but in life. Students in pre-K through grade 12 create original works of art in response to a theme. Students submit their completed works of art in one, or all, of the available arts caegories: Visual Arts, Photography, Literature, Music Composition, Dance Choreography, and Film Production. Local PTAs/Councils set their own deadlines for submissions to determine winners that are then submitted to WSPTA.
Watch and Learn
Watch this short Reflections introduction video to learn the basics of the program. Use #PTA Reflections to share this video and get our school community excited about Reflections!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuaoV5TyfBI&t=2s
Program Details
A student may submit an entry in any of six arts areas. Only original works of art are accepted. The six art areas are:
Literature: works of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, prose, drama, short stories and lyrics.
Music Composition: original musical composition, with or without words.
Photography: color or black and white, included techniques: photogram, negative sandwich, and multiple exposure.
Visual Arts: drawing, painting in tempera, oil, acrylic, watercolor & t-shirt paints, computer generated art, two-dimensional collage, printmaking, needlework & leather tooling.
Film/Video: original works, with or without sound, of animation, narrative, documentary, experimental or music video/film.
Choreography/Dance: originally choreographed dance composition.
Participation is organized by student age and grade levels. Student works are critiqued against others in the same grade division. This allows recognition and judging of artworks by appropriate developmental age and skill levels.
Accessible Arts Division
The National PTA accessible arts division is an option for students with a disability as defined under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Generally, rules and guidelines within the special artists division are intended to ensure accessibility to the National PTA Reflections® program and are modeled after the guidelines outlined in the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). We are asking local PTA chairs and council chairs to verify that artists meet this criteria before judging.
Complete details are included in the 2026-27 Accessible Arts Rules | en Español.
How to Participate?
Step1: Download the Student Entry Form and review the rules for your category
Note: If the download function does not work on your computer, you are able to Print - Save to PDF as an alternative.
Entries must meet the criteria written in the guidelines, especially file type/format, length, and size. Students should not have their full names displayed in the art piece.
Students may submit in as many arts categories as they would like; however, only one entry per arts category is allowed.
For official PTA Reflections Program Rules, please refer to the 2026-27 Reflections Program Student Entry Packet above.
For detailed guidelines for each category, please review the Category Guidelines above. If you have any questions or trouble accessing the files, feel free to contact us at reflections@northcreekptsa.com.
Step 2: Create your artwork
Students create their completed works of art in one or all of the available arts categories: Dance Choreography, Film Production, Literature, Music Composition, Photography, Visual Arts.
Step 3: All submissions are due by November 16, 2026, at 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time.
All artworks will be judged digitally. Photos need to have good lighting, angle, crop, etc., and have a file size as per the guidelines. 3D art will require additional photos for different angles and music submissions will need an extra notation file.
Your artwork will be judged at the Northshore Council level in December with the opportunity to move on to the State and National level if it qualifies.
Thank you for participating! We hope you enjoy expressing your creativity and sharing your unique perspective on this year’s theme, “What My Culture Means to Me!”
Enjoy programs like this? Consider joining the PTSA! Your membership helps support opportunities like these for our students.
