The State Board of Elections and several nonpartisan groups are conducting a poster contest to promote voter registration among young people in North Carolina. The winning poster will be reproduced and distributed to high schools, local election officials, and civic groups for voter education and registration efforts. Learn more about the contest here.

 

Goal: Create a poster with a catchy slogan and graphic design that inspires teenagers as young as 16 to register to vote! The final poster will be 17 x 22 inches and printed in full color (CMYK).

 

In addition to the overall slogan, the poster should highlight (or leave space for text that highlights) two points:

• You can register to vote if you are at least 16 and a US citizen.
• You can vote in the primary and general election if you register and if you will be at least 18 on the Election Day in November.

 

Background: A new law in North Carolina allows citizens to register to vote as young as 16 year old. The voting age does not change, but early registration (or pre-registration) for 16 year olds makes sense, because that’s the age when most teenagers take Civics in high school or visit the DMV to get a driver’s license, where they will be asked if they want to register.

 

Prizes: The winner of the contest will receive $200. The runner-up will receive $100. Representatives of the State Board of Elections, Democracy North Carolina, NC Civic Education Consortium, NC Center for Voter Education, and Kids Voting NC will be the final judges.

 

Rules for Submission: Only North Carolina residents age 16 to 19 are eligible to submit an entry for the contest and they must affirm that they alone are the creator of the poster submitted. Eligible teenagers may work together as a team to submit an entry (and divide the prize money if they win).

 

Submitting Your Entry: The entry may be submitted electronically (as a PDF or JPG file) to postercontest@democracy-nc.org or in hard copy to:

Poster Contest
Democracy NC
1821 Green Street
Durham, NC 27705.

The entry must be accompanied with the contact information for the poster creator, including name, age, full address, email, phone number, grade and school attending, guardian’s name and phone number, and, if relevant, contact information for a teacher-adviser.

 

The deadline for all entries is midnight, April 15, 2010. The winner will be announced by May 1.

 

The State Board of Elections and Democracy North Carolina reserve the right to modify the poster, in consultation with the winner, to include contact information and other pertinent details.