High School Students Invited to Design 2016 Tollway Map Cover

Submitted by the Illinois Tollway.

High school students are asked to submit original works of art and join the Illinois Tollway’s efforts to promote conservation of monarch butterflies, the state insect of Illinois, through the 2016 Tollway Map Cover Art Contest.

Students may choose to illustrate:

• The importance of monarch butterflies to our environment
• The use of land along interstate highways to provide a food source and refuge for monarch butterflies through Northern Illinois

Contest rules and all required entry forms are posted on the Tollway’s website at illinoistollway.com. Entries must be postmarked no later than Oct 2.

Artwork created by the grand prize winner will be featured on the cover of the Tollway’s 2016 map, which is distributed at no cost to more than 125,000 customers. Three runners-up will be featured in the Tollway’s annual report. Awards include:

• Grand prize winner: $400 gift certificate from Blick Art Materials and $200 in gift certificates from MBRE to use at oases retail shops and restaurants
• Runners-up: $200 gift certificate from Blick Art Materials and $100 in gift certificates from MBRE
• A certificate of appreciation for all students who participate in the contest
• Acknowledgment of winners at the Illinois Tollway Board of Directors meeting on November 19, 2015

While monarchs are found across the United States – as recently as 1996 numbering some 1 billion – their numbers have declined by approximately 90 percent in recent years, a result of numerous threats, particularly loss of habitat due to agricultural practices, development and cropland conversion, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

An Illinois Tollway committee will initially judge all contest entries to determine the top 10. Those top 10 entries will be featured on the Illinois Tollway’s website and displayed in galleries at each of the six Tollway oases pavilions during the last two weeks of October.

The public is invited to view the artwork and cast their votes online at illinoistollway.com to choose the top four entries. The grand prize winner and three runners-up will be selected by a panel of judges, including members of the Tollway Board of Directors and representatives from MBRE.

The Illinois Tollway launched the Map Cover Art Contest in 2011 to highlight the work of talented art students from the communities served by the Illinois Tollway. Last year, 66 entries from student artists attending 18 high schools throughout the region were submitted and more than 9,300 votes were cast by the general public to determine the four contest finalists.

The 2015 Tollway map features cover artwork from last year’s contest winner, Jessica Karlic, a senior at Lincoln-Way West High School in New Lenox.