(HOBOKEN, NJ) -- Stevens Cooperative School art instructor Edward Lu is a recipient of Artsonia’s 2020 Art Education Leadership Award. The award honors pioneers in the art education community who continuously inspire their peers and engage students. Lu’s peers and Artsonia selected him among thousands of instructors as one of 15 national winners of this award.

“To be seen and recognized by your peers as a leader is powerfully validating and incredibly humbling,” Lu said. “It can be isolating in our field but knowing that other art educators see what you are doing and value what you bring gives fuel to keep sharing ideas and supporting others in their work.”

Lu has been teaching in Hoboken for sixteen years as an art instructor. He is one of thousands of art teachers from over 100 countries around the world who use Artsonia to showcase their student art, crowdsource lesson plans and help fundraise for their classrooms. Artsonia, the world’s largest online student art museum with more than 75 million pieces of art, allows family and friends of student artists create and purchase organic keepsakes from the student art, and then gives back 20 percent of all revenue to the local art classroom.

“Artsonia is one of my most impactful advocacy tools for my art program and arts education in general,” Lu said. “Students are so inspired by comments given by proud grandparents, uncles and aunts and look forward to the next chance to share their creativity.”

Artsonia’s 2020 Art Education Leadership Award serves as a way to honor the hard-working, passionate instructors who help children tap into their creative side and learn to create and cherish art.

“Artsonia strives to provide art educators a platform to inspire one another,” said Jim Meyers, CEO and co-founder of the company. “We could not thrive without the commitment and ingenuity of teachers like Edward who use their online gallery and lesson plans to motivate others. This Art Education Leadership Award is a way for us to recognize the hard-working, passionate people who help our children create and cherish art and their creative side.”

For a complete list of the 2020 Art Education Leadership Award Winners, click here.

Artsonia is the world’s largest online collection of student art and a destination for thousands of art educators in over 100 countries worldwide. The website curates more than 75 million pieces of student art (and counting). Artsonia works with teachers to create online school art galleries and student art portfolios. Parents and relatives can view the art online, leave comments and order keepsakes featuring the artwork. As part of its mission, Artsonia donates 20 percent of merchandise revenue directly back to local classrooms.

A 2018 Common Sense Education Top Pick for Learning, Artsonia inspires students and promotes the sharing of art with its weekly Artist of the Week campaign and online gift shop — all while helping to fund local school art programs.