The 2025 NACD Stewardship Theme, “Home is Where the Habitat Is,” celebrates 70 years of Stewardship Week.

NACD’s Poster Contests gives K-12 students a chance to have their artwork displayed nationally, highlighting conservation district efforts. The contest begins locally, advances to state levels, and national winners are recognized at NACD’s annual meeting.

Click here for 2025 Poster and Photo Contests Rules PDF

 

• Recommended: 11″ x 17″ 60 lb. paper.
• We will accept posters 8.5″ x 11″ or larger.

Eligibility:

• Open to public, private, and home-schooled students.
• All submissions must be sponsored by a local conservation district.

Submission Process and Deadline:

• State coordinators must upload all state winners through the NACD online submission form beginning on March 30, 2025, through midnight, December 1st, 2025, (local time).
• Please note: Posters are sorted and distributed to judges based on file format. Incorrect formatting will result in disqualification.
• Format is: State_CategoryCode_Grade_LastName_FirstInitial –  Example: Maryland_HD_10-12_Stanley_M
• State deadlines may vary. Please check with your state poster contest coordinator for specific state contest rules.
• State contest submissions must originate from district-level competitions.
• National contest submissions must come from state-level competitions.

Poster Contest Prizes: First Place: $200.00 | Second Place: $150.00 | Third Place: $100.00

Photo Contest Prizes: First-place $100.00 | Second Place $50.00

Contest Winners: National contest winners will be announced in February 2026 at NACD’s Annual Meeting in San Antonio, Texas.

Winner Checks:

• Poster Winners: Checks and certificates for the poster contest will be mailed and made payable to the submitting district for local presentation. Many districts present awards at special events to highlight their role in local conservation education.
• Photo Winners: Checks will be mailed directly to the winners’ home address.
• We will no longer reissue checks once they’ve been mailed and received. Please ensure arrangements are made for youth who cannot deposit checks into a parent/guardian’s account. The new submission forms will include a space for an adult name to receive the student winners’ checks.

For More Information: Contact the NACD Stewardship and Education Team at stewardship[at]nacdnet.org.

Poster Contest Flow Chart Download

GUIDELINES FOR DISTRICT LOCAL CONTESTS

• Districts: Need to use a district to state form. Use our template District Poster Contest Submission Form or use the information provided to create your own!

• State or National form: State coordinators will submit electronically so starting in 2024 a paper document is no longer needed.

• Find contact info for your district on NACD’s Conservation District Directory.

• No pictures of posters accepted, only scanned, clear files in JPEG/PNG/PDF. Districts should provide the files correctly scanned and named to the state coordinators. If you don’t have a large scanner, a cell phone works too! See this article for instructions on using a cell phone to scan – no special app needed at all!

• Online Submissions: Submit posters through the links below.

Submission Links:

• Braille Poster Contest Submission Link goes live March 30, 2025
• Graphic Design Poster Contest Submission Link goes live March 30, 2025
• Additional Assist Poster Contest Submission Link goes live March 30, 2025
• Hand Drawn Poster Contest Submission Link goes live March 30, 2025

PHOTO FILE for POSTER format MUST be: State_CategoryCode_Grade_LastName_FirstInitial

Example: Maryland_HD_10-12_Stanley_M

CATEGORY CODES

Braille Poster Contest (Braille)

Graphic Design Poster Contest (Digital)

Additional Assist Poster Contest (Assist)

Hand Drawn Poster Contest (HD)

 

Poster/Photo Contest Certificates for District Level Contests:

2024 “May the Forest Be With You, Always” Certificates.

2025 “Home is Where the Habitat is” Certificates

Choose only “Use template for new design” to customize.

Clicking edit template will permanently alter the design.

Canva use instructions found here: Stewardship and Education.

 

2025 NACD Photo Contest

2025 Contest Rules can be found on the link at the top of this page 

The NACD Photo Contest is open to all amateur photographers who reside in the U.S. or its territories in the following categories:

Conservation Practices (CP)

• Showcases conservation methods such as contour buffer strips, cover crops, crop rotation, wetland restoration, riparian buffers, and nutrient management.
• Highlights conservation efforts that support environmental sustainability and resource management.

Close-up Conservation (CC)

• Focuses on detailed aspects of conservation such as soil health, water in various forms, insects, farm animals, irrigation techniques, earthworms, roots, and composting.
• Highlights the small yet significant elements of conservation efforts.

Conservation in Action (CA)

• Captures conservation district activities such as educational programs, field days, irrigation use, community meetings, and hands-on conservation practices.
• Highlights farmers, landowners, district staff, and volunteers engaged in conservation efforts.

Agriculture and Conservation Across America (ACAA)

• Features barns, crops, farm practices, livestock, grazing, pastures, tree farms, and youth participating in conservation-related activities. Please ensure that a signed release form is obtained for any youth whose facial features appear in the photograph.
• Captures the relationship between agriculture and conservation across different regions of the U.S.

Awards:

• One winner will be selected for each category and age division.
  • Adult Division: 19 and older as of December 1, 2025.
  • Youth Division: 18 and younger as of December 1, 2025.

• First-place winners will receive a $100 cash prize.
• Second-place winners will receive a $50 cash prize.

File Requirements:

Submissions must be in JPEG, PNG, or TIFF format with a high resolution (300 dpi or higher).

Each photo file must be named using the following format, using full state name (no abbreviations) using underscores and numbering files by submissions: Category_Level_LastName_FirstInitial_State_Submission#

Example: A 16-year-old from Texas named John Smith submits two photos:

• CC_Y_Smith_J_Texas_1 (Close-Up Conservation, Youth Division)
• CA_Y_Smith_J_Texas_1_ (Conservation in Action, Youth Division)

Example: A 21-year-old from Main named Anita Jones submits a photo:

• ACAA_A_Jones_A_Maine_1 (Agriculture and Conservation Across America, Adult)

Submission Link:

Photo Contest Submission Link goes live March 30, 2025

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Questions?

Contact NACD at stewardship[at]nacdnet.org.

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PAST CONTEST WINNERS

NACD Flickr Albums – find past contest winners here!