NISOD Student Graphic Design Contest

NISOD invites students at NISOD-member colleges to participate in NISOD’s Student Graphic Design Contest!

Students design the official Conference Program front cover for NISOD’s 2026 International Conference on Teaching and Leadership Excellence, the definitive gathering of community and technical college faculty, administrators, and staff seeking best and promising practices designed to improve student achievement.

The Prize

The winning student artist will receive:

$1,000 USD
Travel to the International Conference on Teaching and Leadership Excellence (May 24-27 in Austin, Texas), which includes:
Up to $400 USD toward travel to Austin, Texas;
Up to three (3) nights lodging (Saturday, Sunday, Monday nights only);
One (1) complimentary conference registration.
In addition, each winning student’s college will receive a complimentary one-year NISOD membership.

Eligibility

Student must be enrolled at a NISOD member college to participate. Check to see if your college is a member here.

Students must be at least 18 years old by May 2025.

The student must be able to travel to Austin to participate in the Student Graphic Design Contest presentation held during NISOD’s annual conference.

Suggested Theme and Style Guidelines

We are looking for artwork with interesting, fun, bold, fresh, colorful, original, and modern images, yet which honors the legacy of NISOD’s International Conference on Teaching and Leadership Excellence. Keep in mind that the winning artwork will become the 2026 Conference Program front cover, and must also be easily applicable to advertising, brochures, and other applications. If you choose to use community and technical college educators in an illustrated format, our preferences are faculty members in classroom settings. No recognizable students, faculty, administrators, and staff are permitted.

Elements That Must Be Included in the Design

NISOD’s name and logo (download various formats below)
“International Conference on Teaching and Leadership Excellence” (Note: “Teaching and Leadership Excellence” should be more prominent than “International Conference on” if using different font sizes.)
“May 23-26, 2026”
“Austin, Texas”

What NOT to Include

Do not use images such as armadillos, cacti, longhorns.
No recognizable images of community and technical college students, faculty, administrators, and staff.
No stock images or clip art, except the NISOD logo.
No copyrighted work.
No photos.

Artwork Specifications

All submissions must be original art/illustrations, except the NISOD logo.
Students are strongly encouraged to employ the official NISOD colors in their artwork.
All submissions must be minimum 8.5″ W x 11″ H and in PDF format.
Reduce to max file size of 60 MB before submitting.
If chosen as the winner, your original file must be produced in vector format for ease of duplication (layered Illustrator .eps or .ai file)

2025 Timeline

Contest opens: August 19, 2024
Submission deadline: March 7, 2025
Winners notified: March 14, 2025
Winner acceptance due: March 21, 2025
Prize presented and artwork revealed at NISOD conference: May 25, 2025