About the Competition

Timeline Deadline



Topic

The competition is an opportunity for all members of the Harvard community to envision an environmentally and economically sustainable campus of the near future (2020-2025). We are asking everyone who has a stake in the community to consider the University's existing and future campuses and to ask:

How can these facilities be renovated or built in a way that reduces its environmental impact while maintaining or improving its economic performance and service to the academic community?

Similarly, we are asking competition participants to ask themselves and their University acquaintances:

How can we–the people who use the Harvard campus on a regular basis–do so in a more efficient manner, thereby reducing the overall strain we and the University place on our local, regional and global environments?

Relevant subjects include, but are not limited to:

  • renewable energy
  • waste reduction
  • building design and materials
  • landscaping
  • resource efficiency (e.g., water or energy)
  • food (e.g., organic, local, non-GMO)
  • alternative forms of transportation
  • greenhouse gas emissions
  • green labs
  • sewage treatment
  • storm water
  • recycling
  • conservation
Central concepts include, but are not limited to:
  • how to get from a culture of consumption to a culture of sustainability
  • the importance of individual action
  • the challenge of changing habits
  • the role of educational institutions in leading the way toward a sustainable society
  • the relationship of a built environment to its natural setting
  • the economic advantages of going green
  • the local, regional and global context for Harvard's environmental footprint
  • the history and future of Harvard's environmental stewardship
  • the capacity of established institutions like Harvard to change and adapt

You can focus upon any aspect of the campus. We encourage you to think of innovative ideas that have a long timeframe in mind, avoiding ideas that are already being implemented at Harvard. We ask that you attempt to be visionary but to also give some consideration to working within the realms of possibility, both economically, politically and technically.

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Eligibility

Any member of the Harvard community, including graduates and anyone who lives, works or studies on any of the University's campuses. Spouses, domestic partners and children of current employees and students are eligible to enter. One piece of artwork allowed per person, excepting entrants who had submitted work before the original deadline (October 31st) who are now allowed to enter up to two pieces.

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Timeline

The winners of the competition will be announced at a special event during the “Harvard Vision 2020: A Bridge to Campus Sustainability” Conference, happening on April 26-29, 2006.

The winning entries will later form an educational traveling exhibit that will be displayed all over Harvard to further inspire and educate the Harvard community about sustainability issues.

April 3rd  New Submission Deadline
April 3rd-25th Selection of the best entries
April 26th-29th Exhibition of the 20 best entries at the Gutman Conference Center, GSE
April 28th  Special Event at the “Harvard Vision 2020: A Bridge to Campus Sustainability” Conference to announce the winners
May 29th – September 14th Exhibition in the Cabot Library, Science Center
September 14th-31th Exhibition at the Holyoke Center

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Deadline

The competition deadline has been extended (from the original competition deadline of October 31st, 2005.)  Entries must now be received by the Harvard Green Campus Initiative by 5PM on Monday, April 3rd, 2006.

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Submission

Contestants should submit one piece of art or design work with the specifications described below, a completed submission form and a statement of no more than 500 words explaining the subjects and concepts portrayed in the entry.

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Art and Specs

The visual arts–2D, 3D and digital media–including but not limited to painting, drawing, sculpture, photography, mixed media, graphic design, video and computer animation. Submissions must be originals, created by the entrant for the Vision of Sustainability competition, and must not have been exhibited in any other venue. For these artforms, please see "How to Submit Artwork." Other art forms will be considered. For format specifications, please email gosia_sklodowska@harvard.edu or call (617) 495-1080.

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Ownership

By submitting your creation to Harvard University, you are giving Harvard University the irrevocable and perpetual right to use, display, make copies of, reproduce, distribute, and make derivative works of your creation for exhibition, outreach and educational purposes. Contestants who do not receive a prize will retain all other rights in their artwork and the original will be returned to them provided they have included with their submission a self-addressed envelope with sufficient postage and any desired protective packaging. Harvard University is not responsible for damage done to artwork in the mail. Entrants who have not won a prize may also pick up their originals at the Harvard Green Campus Initiative during regular business hours between May 1 and 5. Works not reclaimed during this period will remain the property of Harvard University. Contestants understand that all submissions of any kind that are chosen for a prize by Harvard University will thereafter be retained and owned by Harvard University for exhibition and outreach purposes with acknowledgment to the artist. Winning contestants agree to assign, and hereby do assign, all rights, title and interest in and to their submitted artwork and all intellectual property rights thereto to Harvard University.

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Prizes

Adult Competition:

1st Prize: $2000
2nd Prize: $1500
3rd Prize: $1000
Team Prize: $2000
Finalists (7): $300

Junior Competition:

High School: $500
Middle School: $400
Elementary School: $300
Preschool: $100

Other Awards:

Raffle: $200
People's Choice: $500
Honorable Mention (6): $150

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Judging

Harvard Green Campus Initiative staff and consultants from the Graduate School of Design and Visual and Environmental Studies department will select the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners, finalists and honorable mention recipients in the adult competition, plus the winners in the junior categories. In assessing the entries, the judges will consider how well the artist or designer has:

In addition, where possible, artists are encouraged to use sustainable practices or materials in the creation of their entry, however this is not a requirement.

Please note that entries will be judged wholistically within their own media form, recognizing the limitations and possibilities of each form when comparing it to other entries.   This is not to say that the judges will be dividing entries up into media categories to determine prize winners from each category; rather we would merely like to specify that judges will be looking for intelligent, visionary concepts as well as judging upon the artist's skills and use of his/her particular form.  For further discussion on how to more successfully shape your piece, see Tips & Suggestions.

The recipient of the raffle prize will be selected at random from all the submissions. The People's Choice award will be decided by popular vote during a traveling exhibition of the winning entries, which will conclude with the campus-wide sustainability conference, "Havard Campus Vision 2020: A Bridge to Sustainability," April 26-29, 2006.

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