Do you like art? So do we! If you’re an Indiana student in grades K-12, enter your artwork in the Cooperative Calendar of Student Art contest
Indiana public, private or home-schooled students in kindergarten through 12th grade during the 2025-26 school year are eligible to enter the contest.
A first-place artist will be selected for each grade, K-12, and will receive $200. The artwork of each grade level winner will also illustrate either the cover or a month of the calendar. Additional artists will earn honorable mention awards and will receive $75. Their artwork will appear in a special section of the calendar. An “artist of the year” will be selected from among the first place winners and will receive an additional $100.
The application deadline for 2026 has passed.
Questions? Contact Indiana Connection at (317) 487-2220 or email Indiana Connection.
2025 Calendar Winners
Frequently Asked Questions
Indiana public, private, or home-schooled students in kindergarten through 12th grade during the 2023-24 school year.
- Students do not have to be consumers of a rural electric cooperative (REMC/REC).
- Artwork can be submitted by teachers, youth 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 will the contest be judged?
Artwork will be judged on artistic merit, originality, creativity, how well the assigned month is depicted, and suitability for a wall calendar. Artwork can be landscapes, portraits, still lifes, etc., as long as the monthly theme is somehow portrayed. A panel of judges will select winners in spring of 2024.
How does the contest work?
Match the grade the student is in during the current (2023-24) school year 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.)
What are the rules for originality?
Students and teachers/parents/guardians are responsible for entering only ORIGINAL WORKS of art totally produced by the participating students.
- Artwork MAY NOT be copied from other sources without substantial creative changes; this includes other paintings and photographs — unless the photo was composed and/or taken by the student or family member with the student’s direction.
- 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 and be done by that student’s hand.
- No tracing of other works is allowed, including sketches by teachers, parents, etc.
- This contest highlights traditional artistic skills. No photographs or artwork created or altered with a computer will be judged for inclusion in the calendar.
- Artwork deemed to be too similar to a copied source or plagiarized will be disqualified. If plagiarism is discovered after awards are made and/or the calendar printed, Indiana Connection reserves the right to request the award money be returned. The student also may be disqualified from future contests, and the artwork and student’s name will be removed from our website gallery of past winners.
How should the artwork be submitted?
Drawings should be no larger than 11×14 inches and no smaller than 8×10 inches. (Paintings on canvas can be larger.) Drawings on white or light-colored paper will reproduce best. Do not use ruled notebook paper.
- The artwork can be most any medium 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. No photographic process, digitally-created or digitally-manipulated art, metallic or fluorescent paints may be used in the finished, submitted art entry.
- Artwork in the horizontal or “landscape” position best fits the wall calendar’s format.
- The artwork should be stand-alone artwork; do not include the name of the month, days of the week, or calendar dates into the art itself.
- Submit the original artwork. Judges will not consider photocopies.
- Do not mount, mat, or frame artwork.
- Do not fold or crease artwork.
- Please do not submit artwork from previous years.
How should the artwork/artist be identified?
One of following two methods MUST be used to identify the art and artist depending where the artwork was created or how submitted. Please use the most appropriate method.
- Entries from Home or a Small Group (Method A)On the back of each entry, in the lower right hand corner, legibly print: student’s first and last name, age, grade, school, names of parents or guardians, complete home address with city and ZIP, and phone number with area code. Also, please title the work, briefly note how it connects to the month if the connection is not obvious and include any other info judges might find useful.In addition to information on the back of each entry, each entry must include a copy of the entry form (A) for the 2025 calendar available from Indiana Connection or downloaded from IndianaConnection.org. The form must be signed by each student-artist and parent/guardian (if the student is under 18 years old) acknowledging the student has adhered to the rules of originality and each submission is original according to the guidelines above.
- Entries from a Large Group, Classroom, or School (Method B)If including all the above information is impractical because of the number of entries or is a violation of school policy, a large group of simultaneous entries from a single source should include on the back of each entry, in the lower right hand corner, the student’s first and last name, grade and a complete contact phone number. Please make sure all information is included and legible, and group submissions are sorted by grade. Try to have the students title their works, briefly note the connection to the assigned month if it is not obvious, and include any other info or description of the work that judges might find helpful.In addition to information on the back of each entry, each package of entries must include a copy of the entry form (B) for the 2025 calendar available from Indiana Connection or downloaded from IndianaConnection.org. The form must be signed by the art instructor/classroom teacher acknowledging that the students have adhered to the rules of originality and each submission is original according to the guidelines above.
A first place “Artist of the Month” will be selected for each grade, K-12, and will receive $200.
- Additional artists will be selected for honorable mention awards and receive $75.
- An “Artist of the Year” also will be selected from among the first place winners for the Best of Show and receive an additional $100.
- Artists who win either their grade division or honorable mention awards will receive 10 complimentary copies of the 2024 calendar.
How will winners be notified?
Only first place and honorable mention winners will be notified by phone. Results will be published in a 2024 issue of Indiana Connection, at IndianaConnection.org and in the 2025 calendar.
How will the artwork/artist be presented?
The artworks and artists may be presented to the public in the following ways.
- First place winners from all grades will illustrate the designated month (or cover) of the 2025 Cooperative Calendar of Student Art, a wall calendar produced by Indiana Connection and distributed by participating Indiana electric cooperatives and other organizations around the state.
- 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.)
- Additional pieces of art, chosen at large from all grades, will be chosen as honorable mentions and will be printed in the calendar.
- The “Artist of the Year” will be featured in Indiana Connection, Indiana’s electric co-op publication, after the winners are selected in the spring of 2024.
- Names of the winners and winning artwork may also be featured in Indiana Connection.
- Names of the winners and winning artwork may also be featured in news releases distributed to media outlets.
- Any artwork entered in the contest also may be selected for publications or materials printed by Indiana Electric Cooperatives to further publicize the art contest and calendar or displayed or presented with Indiana Connection’s discretion.
What becomes of the artwork’s copyright?
All artwork and reproduction rights become the property of Indiana Connection. This means we can print your artwork in the calendar, cooperative publications, website, and promotional materials and distribute artwork to the media for promotional purposes without additional compensation. We will respect the integrity of the artwork and will not allow the outside commercial use of entered artwork without the permission of the artist (and parents/guardians).
How will the artwork be returned?
Artwork selected to appear in the calendar will be returned to the artists after the calendar is printed in the fall of 2024. Indiana Connection may retain winning artwork for display at exhibitions and galleries through December 2024. All other entries will not be returned unless requested and accompanied with full prepaid postage and proper packaging when submitted. We will strive to have these submissions returned by late May 2024.
Artwork must be at the Indianapolis office of Indiana Connection by 3 p.m., Friday, March 29, 2024. Mailing address: Indiana Connection, 8888 Keystone Crossing, Suite 1600, Indianapolis, IN 46240. (Please do not drop off artwork at your local electric cooperative office unless the local REMC/REC has announced it is accepting entries at its location or the local office has agreed to special arrangements.)
Who can I contact for more information?
Please contact Rachel McFadden at Indiana Electric Cooperatives, 317.408.7903, or send an email to youth@indianaec.org.
