Contests

Poster Contest

Congratulations to all winners of the 2022 Poster Contest “Healthy Soil, Healthy Life.” View all winners listed below under the ‘Past Winners’ tab, and see their submissions on NACD’s Flickr!

The 2023 Poster Contest “One Water” is open for submissions until December 1, 2023. Winners will be announced during NACD’s Annual Meeting in February 2024.

The annual NACD and NACD Auxiliary Poster Contest provides students from kindergarten through 12th grade the chance to have their art displayed as part of a national conservation outreach initiative. Each year, the winning posters reflect NACD’s annual Stewardship theme and highlight the work of conservation districts and their state conservation associations, auxiliaries and agencies to protect and enhance natural resources. The contest starts at the district level; winners advance to the state level, and then to the national level, where they receive recognition at NACD’s annual meeting.

The poster contest is open to public, private and home-schooled students. The top three posters in each category of the national contest will receive monetary prizes. First-place winners will receive $200; second place winners will receive $150 and third place winners will receive $100. The NACD Auxiliary – through their quilt project proceeds, the Country Store at the NACD Annual Meeting and individual donors – sponsor prizes at the national level. If you have questions, please contact stewardship[at]nacdnet.org.

All entries at the local and state-level contest must be submitted with this Local to State Form along with this contest entry form (placed on the back of each poster) by the due dates set by your local conservation district. Find contact information for your local conservation district on NACD’s Conservation District Directory. All poster submissions must be sponsored by a local conservation district.

Posters for the national contest will only be accepted from state poster contest organizers. All entries must be submitted through this State to National Entry Form. Please note that although you do not need to include the original contest entry form with the submission, you will need to attest that you have obtained the written permission of the student’s parent/legal guardian for the poster to be used for educational/promotional purposes.

Only electronic submissions are accepted – photos or scanned copies of the hand-drawn posters. The electronic submission should capture the original poster without editing, and images should be clear (not blurry), well-lit and well-framed. Name the JPG/PDF file for the poster submitted in the following format: State_Category_FirstLastName of the winner (Ex: Maryland_10-12_JoPerson).

If you don’t have a scanner, and need to know how to scan a document on your phone, look at Methods 3 and 4 in this article.

Questions? Please contact NACD at stewardship[at]nacdnet.org.

Digital Poster Contest Rules

Hand Drawn Poster Contest Rules

Logo

Black and White Logo

Contest Scoresheet

Contest Summary Scoresheet

Judging Scoresheet Template

Poster Contest Rules and Information PowerPoint Presentation

2022 Poster Contest First Place Winners:

Poster Winners
K-1	Sameera Kuricheti Delaware – New Castle Conservation District
2-3	Alexis Acevedo Mississippi – Rankin County Soil & Water Conservation District
4-6	Janna Winningham Ohio – Geauga Soil & Water Conservation District
7-9	Jihyeon Han Kansas – Labette County Conservation District
10-12	Brelund Barnes Mississippi – DeSoto County Soil & Water Conservation District
Digital Artwork Category Winners
7-9	Jozee Dilbeck Oklahoma – Noble County Conservation District
10-12	Kaylee Junghanns Oklahoma – Grant County Conservation District

2018 1st Place Posters

**10-12: Sarah Kim**
Virginia Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts

**7-9: Haylea Knisley**
Pickaway SWCD, OH

**4-6: Kelsen Baughman**
Rutherford County SCD, TN

**2-3: Eva Alvarez** Conservation Districts of Iowa

**K-1: Elizabeth Jueneman**
Washington County CD, KS

2018 Poster Contest Winners: Watersheds: Our Water, Our Home

2017 Poster Contest Winners: Healthy Soils Are Full of Life!

2016 Poster Contest Winners: We All Need Trees

2015 Poster Contest Winners: Local Heroes – Your Hardworking Pollinators

2014 Poster Contest Winners: Dig Deeper

2013 Poster Contest Winners: Where Does Your Water Shed?

2012 Poster Contest Winners: Soil to Spoon

2011 Poster Contest Winners: Forests for People, More Than You Can Imagine!

2010 Poster Contest Winners: Conservation Habits = Healthy Habitats

Photo Contest

The 2023 Photo Contest is open for submissions until December 1, 2023. Winners will be announced during NACD’s Annual Meeting in February 2024.

NACD and the NACD Auxiliary host an annual Photo Contest, open to all amateur photographers who reside in the U.S. or its territories. Contestants are allowed to enter as many as five photos each year that each fit into one of the following four categories:

Conservation Practices
Close-up Conservation
Conservation in Action
Agriculture and Conservation Across America

Photos are judged on technical merit and composition. On technical merit, photos will be judged on whether they are well-framed, properly exposed, and sharp/clear. On composition, the photos will be judged on imagination and creativity. One winner will be selected for each category and age division (adults are 19 and older as of December 1, 2023.) Each first place winner at the national level will receive a $100 cash prize. Second place winners will receive $50. The NACD Auxiliary – through their quilt project proceeds, the Country Store at the NACD Annual Meeting and individual donors – sponsor prizes at the national level. Honorable mention award winners will also be selected for each category but will not receive a monetary award.

Questions? Contact NACD at stewardship[at]nacdnet.org.

Complete and submit this entry form for each photo you would like to enter into the contest. Photo submissions should be uploaded through the form. Photos must be in a JPG, PNG or TIFF file format. Please note, although you do not need to submit a photo release form or subject and model release form along with your photo, you will need to attest that these forms have been completed.

Minor digital enhancements for cropping, red-eye removal, filters and corrective functions are permitted; however, an image judged to be significantly altered may be disqualified. Contestants are not permitted to place borders, frames or backgrounds around their images or to place watermarks, dates, signatures or copyright images onto photos. Previously published photos are not eligible for the NACD Photo Contest.

All entries become the property of NACD. As such, NACD reserves the non-exclusive right to use submissions in official publications and for promotional purposes. The photographer retains rights and use to their photo.

All emailed photo files must be named by category, age division, last name, state and photo number. If you are submitting only one photo in a category, your photo number is “1.” Additional photos in the same category should be numbered consecutively. Name the photo file for each entry as follows:

Conservation Practices
- Adult: CP-A- LastName_FirstInitial-State-#
- Youth: CP-Y- LastName_FirstInitial-State-#
Conservation in Action
- Adult: CIA-A- LastName_FirstInitial-State-#
- Youth: CIA-Y- LastName_FirstInitial-State-#
Close Up Conservation
- Adult: CUC-A- LastName_FirstInitial-State-#
- Youth: CUC-Y- LastName_FirstInitial-State-#
Ag/Conservation Across America
- Adult: ACAA-A- LastName_FirstInitial-State-#
- Youth: ACAA-Y- LastName_FirstInitial-State-#

For example, John Smith, a 16-year-old from Texas, wishes to submit three photos, one in the Close Up Conservation category and two in Conservation in Action. His file names would read as follows: