We’re looking for artists to submit unique creative, cozy, and fun designs for our holiday Ugly Sweater contest!

Submit your digital design to this online contest and one winner will get their design printed on a long-sleeved shirt and sold through an online fundraiser for the CCAC.

Contest Details:

Designs will be reviewed by Carroll County Arts Council staff for their uniqueness along with their adherence to professional principles of good design. The winner will be announced November 28th and their design will be available for sale online via a fundraising webpage in December. The winner will receive one copy of their design printed on a long-sleeved shirt for free. The proceeds from subsequent sales will go to the Carroll County Arts Council to help fund our art classes and cultural programming in the community.

$5 Submission Fee
There is no limit to how many designs a single individual or group can submit, but each design will cost $5.

Submission Deadline: November 18
Winner Announcement: November 28
Shirts will be available for purchase in an online fundraiser this December.

File Requirements:
– Accepted file formats: .png, .jpg, .jpeg
– Max file size: 100 KB (A higher resolution file will be requested once a winner is selected)

Design Requirements:
– Dimensions: Don’t exceed 800 pixels in any direction
– Color limit: red, green, black, and white
– Designs CANNOT include copyrighted material, sexual content, blood and gore, weapons, inappropriate language, or fear mongering

The Carroll County Arts Council reserves the right to not display any entries that do not adhere to the requirements of this contest. Any designs submitted to this contest may be used by the CCAC in promotional materials for their events.

Design Submission Examples

A Note on the Word “Ugly”
The Carroll County Arts Council supports and affirms the reclaiming of the word “ugly” in the zany, fun, silly, unusual, and delightfully weird light that an ugly sweater contest naturally entails. We reject the homogenizing and limiting tendencies of modern “beauty” practices and look to appreciate the artistic merit in the unconventional patterns, styles, and aesthetics that more accurately reflect our amazingly diverse world.