Eligibility

Both the Visual Art Luminary award and the Poet Laureate competition are open to all students who are enrolled at least part-time in adult education, dual enrollment/early college, workforce credential, certificate, or degree programs at a participating Virginia Community College in Summer 2025, Fall 2025, and/or Spring 2026.

Applicants may submit materials only to the college within their region as they may receive college and service region invitations. Dual enrollment or early college students under age 18 must be able to secure parental permission. Students who live out of state may submit only to the college serving their region.

Special Note: Applicants who submit incomplete applications by the college’s deadline will not be considered. Those selected to advance will be asked to complete an official application. Additionally, applicants must ensure that no personally identifiable information appears in their submissions so blind judging can occur. If personal information, such as a name, appears, the application will be disqualified. 

ACCEPTED WORKS

Visual Arts: The competition is open to the following types of work: drawing, mixed media, painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics. We are unable to accept works of video, film, performance art, jewelry, or craft. Artworks created using artificial intelligence (AI-ART) are not eligible.

Poet Laureate: The competition is open to poems and prose poems. Works created with the assistance of artificial intelligence are not eligible.

The "I Dream"-inspired work should be created in 2025-early 2026. 

Submissions should not be sexually explicit, violent, or racist.