Student Art Contest
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SUBMISSIONS ARE CLOSED FOR THE 2025 WATER AWARENESS CALENDAR
Submissions for this year's contest are now closed. We will open submissions for next year's contest in the Summer of 2025.
We received hundreds of submissions for our 2025 Water Awareness Calendar. Thank you to all who entered!
Our contest judges will now choose 23 winners from the WRD service area. Only winners will be notified. We will send out a Certificate of Participation and a copy of the printed 2025 Water Awareness Calendar to ALL PARTICIPANTS in January 2025. We send these items directly to participating students' schools.
The Annual Water Awareness Calendar
The "Blue Planet" we call home is named for the vast amount of water that covers it. Yet, of all this plentiful liquid, only a fraction is usable as fresh water by humans for drinking, growing, washing, and cooking. In an urban region with 4 million residents and only 14 inches of average annual rainfall, it's a continual challenge to meet the water demands of southern Los Angeles County.
The WRD Water Awareness Calendar helps educate people about the importance of water and the role they can play in water conservation every day by changing their habits at home and at school.
Every year we receive hundreds of submissions and pick 23 winners including 1 grand prize winner. The winners have their artwork published in the calendar and the grand prize winner has their artwork on the cover of the calendar. Winners also receive certificates of recognition, printed copies of the calendar and other fun prizes! With the help of parents and teachers, we also book awards presentations at the school assemblies for all winners.
The Grand Prize Winner will also have their artwork on the cover of the calendar, which serves as the theme for our annual Groundwater Festival.
All students who submit a peice of artwork receive a certificate of participation and a copy of the calendar which are sent out to their schools.
Looking for Guardians of the Aquifer!
The Water Replenishment District needs your creativity to spread the word on the importance of water and water conservation in the 10th Annual Student Art Contest.
If you are a K-6 grade student from the WRD service area, you have a chance to win a $75 Amazon Gift Card*, a Certificate of Achievement, other school-related prizes, and have your artwork published in our 2025 Water Awareness Calendar!
Please see a step by step list of how to participate in the Contest Rules section and check out the Student Art Contest Flyer and Parental Approval Form. (En español aquí)
* All prizes provided by sponsors
Submissions for the 2025 calendar are now open.
We will accept new submissions through November 3, 2024 at 11:59 pm.
Read the full contest rules here, or watch the 2-minute video below for a step-by-step list of how to participate.
TO ENTER:
Step 1 - Check your Eligibility
To enter you must be in K-6th grade and reside, or go to school, in the WRD service area of southern Los Angeles County. Please see a map of our service area and a list of the 43 cities we serve by visiting our website.
Step 2 – Create Your Artwork
It’s difficult for nature to provide the environment and us humans with enough water to live, grow, and stay healthy. That’s why it’s so important that we understand where our water comes from and practice saving water every day. To help us spread the word on water conservation, please choose from the four topics below for your artwork.
Contest Topic Options - Choose ONE:
1. GUARDIANS OF THE AQUIFER: Protecting Our Groundwater
2. TAPPING INTO SOLUTIONS: Saving Water in My Community
3. EVERYONE NEEDS WATER: There’s Life in Every Drop!
To Win, Your Artwork Must:
- Demonstrate the importance of groundwater and/or water conservation.
- Be submitted on 8 1/2" x 11" paper in horizontal orientation by November 3, 2024 at 11:59 pm
- Include parental consent:
Mail-in entries must include a signed Parental Approval Form (En español aquí).
Online entries can use the webform for consent instead.
Don’t get disqualified!
- Artwork must be original: no computer-made or copyrighted materials such as superhero characters.
- If you submit online, keep your original artwork! You will need to send it in by November 30, 2024 if you are selected as a finalist.
- One entry per student only.
Get inspired!
- Check out last year’s calendar here.
- Or see all the winning artwork from previous years below.
- For lessons on groundwater and water conservation, check out our Eco Kids online activities!
Step 3 – Submit Your Artwork and Parental Consent
The deadline for students to enter their artwork is Sunday, November 3, 2024 at 11:59 pm. You can submit your artwork and parental approval by mail or online.
To Submit Online:
- Click the button below and complete the webform.
- Upload a clear photo of your artwork and provide parental consent by clicking the checkbox in the form.
- Keep your original artwork! If you are selected as a finalist, you'll need to send it in by Nov 30, 2023.
- SUBMIT ONLINE HERE
To Submit by Mail or Drop Off:
- Send original artwork and signed parental approval form (PAF) to:
- Attn: WRD Student Art Conest
Water Replenishment District
4040 Paramount Blvd.
Lakewood, CA 90712
*Note that WRD has a drop box to the left of the front doors for drop offs after business hours
Step 4 – The Judging Panel Selects Finalists & Winners
The judging panel goes through the hundreds of submissions that we receive each year and looks for how well the topic was addressed with creativity, thoughtfulness, and composition. Selected finalists will be contacted in the middle of November.
Selected finalists who submitted their entries using the online form will be required to send their original artwork to WRD by November 30, 2024 to qualify for their prize. So keep your artwork original artwork until then! Once the original artwork from a Finalist is recieved by WRD, they will be automatically considered a Winner.
Winning entries that were submitted by mail will be notified in the middle of November too. Only finalists and winners will be contacted.
Step 5 – Winners Announced and Published in the 2025 Water Awareness Calendar
In early January 2025, twenty-three winners of the contest will be announced online, and their artwork will appear in the 2025 Water Awareness Calendar. The Grand Prize Winner will have their artwork published on the cover of the calendar, which serves as the theme for our Annual Groundwater Festival. All winners will be invited to be recognized onstage during the Groundwater Festival program.
Prizes: The 23 winners each will have their artwork published in the 2025 Water Awareness Calendar and receive $75 Amazon Gift Card*, a certificate of achievement, a Water Nerd patch, and other school supply goodies. *Prizes provided by sponsors.
WRD will also schedule Awards Presentations at the school assemblies for all winners so that students can be recognized in front of their peers.
How to Participate Video
2024 Water Awareness Calendar
Thank you to the hundreds of K-6th grade students who participated in the 9th Annual Student Art Calendar Contest! In 2024, we had over 1,100 submissions. Your creativity and artistic skills help to educate your friends, family and community about the importance of groundwater and water conservation.
Take a look at the 2024 Water Awareness Calendar and all of this year’s winners below. The 2024 contest topics were Groundwater: The Treasure Beneath Our Feet; Water Nerds are Water Heroes; There’s Life in Every Drop; and How Do You Conserve Water.
Congratulations to our 23 winners! View the full calendar by clicking the link or scrolling through the image gallery below.
2024 WRD Water Awareness Calendar - Digital.pdf
Teacher Grant Program
WRD is pleased to offer teachers a Water Education Mini Grant Program to support environmental education in their classrooms. Teachers with the most participation in this year’s contest will receive a small grant* to spend on water education materials. (*Grants are provided by our generous Art Contest sponsors.)
Past winners are shown above. We thank them for their dedication to environmental education and for engaging their students with water conservation and environmental stewardship opportunities.
Learn more about Teacher Grants here.
Contest Sponsors
Thank you to our generous sponsors who support the Annual Student Art Contest!
We would like to thank our Student Art Contest sponsors for helping support the contest with prizes and materials for the participants of this contest. These gracious sponsors also fund the Student Art Contest Teacher Grant Program that awards the teachers with the highest levels of student participation in the contest with mini-grants.
- CCE Consulting Group
- ESA - Environmental Science Associates
- Dakota Communications
- Leal-Trejo, Attorneys at Law
- Tetra Tech
- West Basin Municipal Water District
