2025 Wildflower of the Year T-Shirt Design Contest

The Virginia Native Plant Society (VNPS) is accepting submissions for the 2025 VNPS Wildflower of the Year T-Shirt Design Contest between February 6, 2025, and March 16, 2025.

The winning design will be printed on the official 2025 VNPS T-shirt to be released on the second day of the Annual VNPS Workshop, currently scheduled for March 19 and 26, 2025, which is to be held online. Learn more about the VNPS 2025 Wildflower of the Year, Mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum), at https://vnps.org/wildflower-of-the-year-2025-mayapple/.

T-Shirt Design Contest Prizes

• 1st Place – $400 prize, one-year VNPS membership. The design will be featured on the official VNPS 2025 Wildflower of the year T-shirt and featured on VNPS.org and social media. All contestants’ work will be shared at our Annual VNPS Workshop currently scheduled for Wednesdays, March 19 and 26, 2025.
• 2nd Place –  $100 prize and one-year VNPS membership.
• 3rd Place – One-year VNPS membership.

Design Rules and Guidelines

1. Design must be of Mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum) and may not exceed 11.5 (width) inches by 14 inches (height).
2. Design must include year “2025”, “Mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum)” and “VNPS/Virginia Native Plant Society Wildflower of the Year.” Please make note of capitalization in the Latin name.
3. Design will appear on the front of a solid-color shirt.
4. Design will be printed with up to a max of 4 solid colors. Gradients and transparencies cannot be incorporated. Scanned pencil drawings, crayon, ink, and watercolor artwork will be disqualified.
5. Design must be wholly original. By submitting a design, you are affirming that you hold original rights to everything in it, that it may be printed on distributed T-shirts, and that it does not contain any copyrighted material.
6. It is recommended to render your design in Adobe Illustrator or a similar design program.  Entries should include the original file, a vector-based EPS file, and a high-resolution JPEG or PDF file. Please submit your entry here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/12W-9W2E7aYynBPU5Vk1HAYwrucz_8vqzAwDVqfWiOxY/edit
7. Limited to one (1) entry. Entries can be submitted by an individual or as a collaborative effort. See more on collaborative efforts below.
8. Eligibility: Current Virginia Resident(s) are encouraged to apply.
9. Entries become the property of VNPS.
10. VNPS reserves the right to make adjustments to all entries, including colors of the design and the shirt.
11. Collaborative entries should use the name of your local group when possible. No entry using the name of a company will be accepted. Recognition on VNPS.org and social media may include each contributing member of the group submitting a collaborative entry when feasible. Should a collaborative entry win, the submitting group will be awarded one (1) $100 prize and one-year VNPS membership.

Submission Rules and Guidelines

1. Entries must be submitted via this form by March 16, 2025.
2. Collaborative entries should include a list of participating members noting the main contact for the group submission for communication with VNPS.

How Winners Are Selected

The VNPS Steering Committee will select no more than 3 finalists, and one will be awarded first place.

How Winners Will Be Notified

A Winner will be notified by email at the close of the voting period, via the information provided during entry. Upon contacting a winner and determining that they have met all eligibility requirements of the contest, such individual will be declared a “winner” of the contest via social media, VNPS blog, e-newsletter and on VNPS.org. At the sole discretion of VNPS, disqualification, forfeiture, and the selection of an alternate winner may result from any of the following:

• Winner’s failure to respond to notification within three (3) business days after its transmission.
• The return of an email notification as undeliverable after three (3) attempts.
• Winner’s failure to provide original design files.