Blog

Submit Your Artwork for the 2023 “Keep Our Air Clean” Student Art Contest

North Carolina students from kindergarten through high school can submit their artwork for a chance to be featured on billboards across the state.

Show how you can help keep the air clean for Earth Day this year!

The North Carolina Clean Energy Technology Center (NCCETC) has officially launched the 6th Annual “Keep Our Air Clean” Student Art Contest, where students in North Carolina from kindergarten through high school can submit their artwork for a chance to be featured on billboards across the state!

Students’ artwork should focus on actions that people can take to reduce air pollution from vehicles and help keep our air clean. Examples include walking, biking, using public transportation, carpooling, using electric vehicles or biofuels, and more. Please make artwork family-friendly, non-partisan and non-copyrighted. You can learn about the alternatives at cleantransportation.org or fuelwhatmatters.org or see examples from past winners and best practices for art submissions here.

Students now have until Monday, May 8 at 11:59 to submit their artwork. Please read the rules below to find out how to submit your artwork. Public voting will begin on Wednesday, May 10 and last through Wednesday, May 17 – stay tuned for a link to vote once submissions have closed!

For more information or questions please email Heather Brutz at hmbrutz@ncsu.edu

Winners will be announced in June. Stay tuned on www.facebook.com/NCCleanTech and www.FuelWhatMatters.org!

GUIDELINES & SPECIFICATIONS

The winner will be chosen based on:

  • Relevance and appropriateness of the message, judged by NCCETC and our panel of judges
  • Visual design, judged by NCCETC and our panel of judges
  • Public votes on our Facebook account

ARTWORK SPECIFICATIONS

Artwork in a more horizontal rectangular shape (about the shape of a billboard) is recommended.

The student may choose the medium for their artwork but a 2-D work is best for billboard display. Digitally made art is accepted in addition to hand-drawn or painted work.

Recommended dimensions:

  • 400h x 840w pixels at 72 ppi
  • 400h x 1400w pixels at 72 ppi 
  • Save as JPG, PNG or BMP at maximum quality in RGB mode

Note: Make sure to leave space in the submission to include the “Keep Our Air Clean” tagline on the final billboards if it is not incorporated into your artwork.

RULES

  1. Students must reside in North Carolina and be enrolled in homeschool, elementary, middle or high school within state lines.
  2. Artwork should focus on actions that people can take to reduce air pollution from vehicles.
  3. Please make artwork family-friendly, non-partisan and non-copyrighted.
  4. Only one entry per student is allowed and all submissions must be made via the submission form or by emailing Amira Ferjani at aferjan@ncsu.edu.
  5. Teachers may submit artwork on behalf of their students through email or the submission form; all artwork submitted must return a signed permission form with each submission.
  6. Artists who are over 18 or parents/legal guardians submitting on behalf of their children can submit artwork in one of two ways:
    1. You may email artwork directly to Amira Ferjani at  aferjan@ncsu.edu, please include a signed permission form with each submission.
    2. You may submit artwork via the Facebook submission poll. By submitting this work, you will be agreeing to the legal terms listed below. 

Legal Terms

By submitting this photograph, image, graphic, or video (collectively the “work”) you hereby agree to the following:

  • You certify and warrant that you are the legal guardian of the minor who is submitting the artwork or are the artist and are legally an adult.
  • You certify and warrant that the work is your work or your child’s own original creative work and does not violate or infringe the copyright or other proprietary or intellectual property rights of others.
  • You retain all copyright and equivalent rights but grant permission for NC State to use, reproduce, distribute, and/or release the work to the public in any manner and in any medium without payment of any fee, and in perpetuity.  
  • North Carolina State University reserves the right to use contestants’ names and works for educational publicity and/or promotional purposes, including website or exhibition of winning entries. You understand that the works will be shared with reporters covering these awards and for promotion of the competition itself. You hereby give North Carolina State University nonexclusive rights to use yours or your child’s name, likenesses, quotes and submissions for educational publicity and/or promotional purposes. This includes but is not limited to website display, print materials and exhibits.
  • You hereby agree to indemnify NC State, its trustees, officers, agents, and employees, from any and all claims, demands, and liabilities (including attorneys’ fees) incurred as a result of a final judgment or settlement or any claim or legal proceeding arising out of or resulting from a breach or claimed breach of the foregoing representations and warranties.