Who can enter:
Any Indiana student, attending any public or private school or schooled at home, who is currently in the grades kindergarten through high school senior.

Students do not have to be consumers of a rural electric cooperative (REMC/REC).

Artwork can be submitted by teachers, 4-H leaders or others as a group or class project, or by individual students or their parents or guardians.

Students may enter as often as they wish.

How the contest works:
Match the grade the student is in during the current school year (2009-2010) to the corresponding month. Students should draw or paint a picture to illustrate their assigned month.

1st grade-January





2nd grade-February

3rd grade-March

4th grade-April

5th grade-May

6th grade-June

7th grade-July

8th grade-August

9th grade-September

10th grade-October

11th grade-November

12th grade-December

Kindergarten students will create the cover art. There is no theme for the cover: any subject, season, event, etc., is acceptable.

How the contest is judged:
Artwork will be judged on artistic merit, creativity and how well the assigned month is depicted. Artwork can be landscapes, portraits, still lifes, etc., as long as the monthly theme is somehow portrayed. A panel of judges will pick winners.

All artwork must be original and not be copied from other copyrighted sources without substantial creative changes; renderings of paintings or published photographs that are deemed to be too similar to the source will be disqualified.

Every element of the artwork (design, lines, marks, paint, color, shapes, shading, highlights, etc.) must be the work of the student whose name appears on the back of the artwork.

No tracing of other works is allowed, including copyrighted art or sketches by teachers, parents. etc.

Photographs and digital artwork created with computer software will not be judged for inclusion in the calendar.

How the artwork should be submitted:
Drawings should be no larger than 11x14 inches and no smaller than 8x10 inches. (Paintings on canvas can be larger.) Drawings on white or light-colored paper will reproduce best. Do not use ruled notebook paper.

Most any medium is acceptable as long as the art is relatively flat. Charcoal and pastel drawings should be sprayed with a fixative. Do not use glitter, sand, liquids or other elements that can flake off or otherwise damage the works of other students.

Artwork in the horizontal or landscape position best fits the wall calendar’s format.

Do not put the name of the month, days of the week or calendar dates into the art itself.

Please submit the original artwork. Judges discourage use of color photocopies.

Do not mount, mat or frame artwork.

Do not fold or crease artwork.

On the back of each entry, in the lower right hand corner, include: student’s first and last name, age, grade, school, names of parents or guardians, home address and phone number.
Note: A large group of simultaneous entries from a school or organization needs only the student’s first and last name, grade and a contact phone number in the lower right hand corner on the back of each entry. Teachers, please make sure all information is included and legible, and group submissions are sorted by grade.</p>
<p>The name, hometown and school of each winning student will be printed in the calendar along with the student’s photograph. (Student photos will be requested after the contest is judged.).

Prizes:
Winners in kindergarten through grade 8 receive $150; grades 9-12 receive $200.

Up to nine additional artworks will be chosen from among all grades as honorable mentions and will be printed in a special section of the calendar. Honorable mentions earn artists $50.

An overall “Artist of the Year” also will be selected and receive an additional $100. He or she will be featured in Electric Consumer, Indiana’s electric co-op publication.

Judges will also select Award of Merit winners who will receive certificates.

Only first place and honorable mention winners will be notified by phone. Results will be published in a 2010 issue of Electric Consumer, on our Web site and in the 2011 calendar.

Rights and returns:
All artwork and reproduction rights become the property of Electric Consumer. This means we can print your artwork in the calendar, co-op publications, Web site and promotional materials and distribute artwork to the media for promotional purposes. We will respect the integrity of the artwork and will not allow the outside commercial use of entered artwork without permission of the artist (and parents/guardians).

Artwork selected to appear in the calendar will be returned to the artists along with complimentary calendars. Selected artwork will not be available until after the calendar is printed in September 2010.

All other entries will not be returned unless accompanied with full prepaid postage and proper packaging. We will strive to have all requested returns sent by mid-May of 2010.

Deadline:
Artwork must be at the Indianapolis office of the Electric Consumer by 3 p.m., on a date in March 2010 to be determined. Mailing address: P.O. Box 24517, Indianapolis, IN 46224; street address: 720 N. High School Road, Indianapolis, IN 46214.

For more details:
Please contact Richard Biever or Emily Schilling at Electric Consumer, (317) 487-2220, (800) 340-7362, or e-mail ec@indremcs.org.

Click here for printable contest rule.