The Harriet Tubman Poster Design Award (2022)
November 01, 2022
Read more to find out about the Harriet Tubman Poster Design Award.
Please read more below or in the link here.
Call for Artist Entries
The University of Maryland Harriet Tubman Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies invites poster design submissions to publicize our spring 2023 Harriet Tubman Day events.
In 2020 the Women’s Studies Department at the University of Maryland, College Park, renamed itself the Harriet Tubman Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Our department draws on Tubman’s legacy to signal our intellectual and political commitments to issues of justice, equity, and liberation. Annually, on March 10, Harriet Tubman Day, our department commemorates Tubman’s life and work, and we remind ourselves of the work still to be done. Our theme for 2023 is “Wanted: Harriet Tubman.”
Theme:
“Wanted: Harriet Tubman”
This year’s theme sits at the intersection of fugitivity and desire.
In 1849, following her self-emancipation, Harriet Tubman’s “Wanted” poster concluded that should she or her brothers be found, they should be lodged in “Baltimore, Easton or Cambridge jail in Maryland.” Tubman’s insistence on the right to be free meant that she became a fugitive from the law. Increasingly, there has been an exponential use of Harriet Tubman’s name and likeness by a diverse array of institutions and places. From “wanted” as a fugitive from the law to “wanted” as legacy and symbol, this year’s theme prompts us to consider the politics of invoking Tubman’s identity. If fugitivity can be seen as “a desire for and a spirit of escape and transgression of the proper and the proposed” (Moten), what then do we want when we call on Tubman’s name and/or image in this contemporary moment?
Award: The creator(s) of the winning design will receive $500.00. The chosen poster may be printed for distribution and used on the department’s website and social media channels to publicize our Harriet Tubman Day activities within the university community and more broadly.
Open to:
The design award is open to undergraduate students in
- One of the five areas of concentration in the Department of Art. While not required, preference will be given to submissions coming from a collaboration between a student from the Department of Art and a student from the Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (any of the department’s five programs, see below).
- Students enrolled in one of the five WGSS programs – Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies major, LGBTQ Studies certificate, Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies certificate, Black Women’s Studies minor, LGBTQ Studies minor are also eligible to apply; eligibility, however, requires that these submissions collaborate with a student from the Department of Art.
Submissions will be accepted from individual students or teams of TWO (2) students working together. Students wishing to collaborate across departments should send their name, medium, and team-mate expectations to mrowley1@umd.edu (WGSS) or adkey@umd.edu.
Only one entry per individual or team. Unselected entries are eligible to participate in the future.
Closing date: 5:00 pm EST Monday, 19 December 2022. The creator(s) of the winning design will be notified by 31 January 2023.
Judging: Faculty from the Harriet Tubman Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and the Department of Art will assess all entries for their creative reflection of the event’s theme, originality, overall design, and production readiness.
Guidance: Design entries should reflect a conceptual and aesthetic understanding of the theme that guides the year’s commemorations. Submissions are encouraged to go beyond literal representations of Tubman’s likeness. Applicants should also think in terms of scalability and visibility from afar; printed posters will be 18x24. We recommend medium resolution (150 dpi, at final size).
Poster designs must include:
- the name of the department
- the theme
- the date and time of the events (March 10, 2023)
Upon selection, the winning designer(s) will be required to consult with faculty in the Harriet Tubman Department to add schedule details, e.g., timetable of events, speakers, venue, and to finalize any edits. This may extend into the beginning of the Spring semester. Examples of previous posters may be found here.
Submitting entries
Entries should be submitted digitally (PDF, JPG) to umdtubmandesignaward@gmail.com
- Submissions should be labeled using the following format: last name_program_HTDP. For example, an entry submitted by Jebediah Jones and Martha Freeman from Digital Design will read JonesFreeman_DigitalDesign_HTDP. Submissions will be anonymized before forwarding to the judging panel.
- Submissions should be accompanied by the attached coversheet and a brief artist statement (no more than 500 words) introducing your artist philosophy and overview of the submitted work.
- To claim the award, the winning designer(s) will be required to submit a fully editable raw file and be available to make final edits, including inserting final schedule details.
- Individuals who participate in the planning or judging of the contest may not submit entries.
The WGSS Department, UMD, College Park reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to select one or more winners, or to cancel the contest without selecting a winner.
Queries should be addressed to Dr. Michelle V. Rowley (mrowley1@umd.edu).
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