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 for the spring semester 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)