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Workzone Safety Billboard Design Contest

52005085849_fcf7c516c3_c.jpgPartnering with high schools to improve work zone safety and save lives.  


Hey students! Here’s an opportunity to SHINE!! Design a billboard that makes a difference. 
  • Are you creative? 
  • Do you care about the safety of your friends, family and community members? 
  • Do you want to save lives? 
If you answered yes to any of these questions, then we have a contest just for you!  

And bonus, you could win $250 not to mention bragging rights and a great addition to your resume or college application. 
 
The Oregon Department of Transportation along with community partners is recruiting high school students to design a billboard to educate drivers – especially young drivers - about the dangers of work zones and encourage safe driving. Imagine seeing your design on a giant billboard and realizing the impact it could have on people’s lives! 
 
Every year, tens of thousands of people are injured or killed in roadway work zone crashes in the United States. Distracted driving, driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol, and speeding cause the most serious injury and deadly crashes.  
 
We want drivers to slow down, drive sober and pay attention when approaching a work zone because lives depend on it. Safety is our number one priority! 

We want to harness your creativity and intellect to encourage drivers to be safe when approaching and driving through work zones.  We want everyone to make it home safe.

The winning design will be displayed on at least 1 billboard for 4 weeks in the ODOT region where the winning submission's school is located. Student(s) will win $250 per student (up to a maximum $1,000 award per team) from the Asphalt Pavement Association of Oregon's Eductation Fountation. 

Contest Details

​​Students must live in Oregon and be enrolled in a public, private, or charter school.  

The fall contest is for students who live in the following counties: Clackamas, Hood River, Multnomah, Washington, Clatsop, Columbia, Tillamook, Yamhill, Polk, Marion, Lincoln, Linn, Benton, and Lane. 

The spring contest is for students who live in the following counties: Douglas, Curry, Coos, Josephine, Jackson, Wasco, Sherman, Gilliam, Jefferson, Wheeler, Crook, Deschutes, Lake, Klamath, Morrow, Umatilla, Union, Wallowa, Baker, Grant, Harney, and Malheur. 

Students may work independently or as part of a team. 

  • ​One entry per student or team. Individual students participating on a team may not submit an entry in addition to his or her team’s entry. 
  • Illegal, offensive, or obscene content is prohibited. 
  • Designs must include or incorporate the ODOT logo in the minimum size specified in the Billboard Design Standards on this page. 
  • Teachers/instructors may assist students by providing oral feedback but should avoid directly assisting with design work. 
  • All participating students authorize ODOT to publish, copy, reproduce, disseminate, and otherwise use submitted designs and student names for the purpose of publicly promoting the contest and designs.  
  • Entries must be submitted through this webpage by uploading their file to our dropbox​ and filling out the form at the bottom of this page.
  • Designs may include words and symbols from any of the languages for which the Oregon Class C Knowledge Test (i.e., the Oregon Driver Manual test). The languages are English, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Russian, and Vietnamese. Although designs may include any such language, more is not necessarily better, and judging will be based on overall creativity, impact, and visual appeal. 
  • Fall contest submission deadline: 5 p.m., Nov. 1, 2023. 
  • Spring contest submission deadline: 5 p.m., March 15, 2024. 
  • References to movies, songs, slang, or other popular media are discouraged. 
  • References to religion are discouraged. 
  • Designs may include images from ODOT’s website​ or flickr pages. Other images must be public domain images or a student’s personal images and may not be stock photos or internet images for which commercial use is prohibited.  
  • Statistics are allowed but not required. Students who include or refer to statistics in the design must provide a reference to the source when the application is submitted (the application form at the bottom of the page includes a field to enter any such references). Trusted sources include: 
  • ODOT may end the contest at any time for its convenience and without cause and regardless of whether students have submitted designs.  
  • Only contest winners will be entitled to compensation. 
  • Designs submitted after the applicable deadline will not be considered. 
  • ODOT reserves the right to select and replace judges. Judges will read all applicable contest information and evaluate the designs solely based upon the expressly stated contest goals and objectives. Judges will recuse themselves from voting on any design submitted by a freind, family member, or personal acquaintance. Judges will not consider the race, color, sex, or national or ethnic origin of any participating student or students. 

D​esign

  • ​Billboards are typically 14 feet high and 48 feet wide and designs should scale to fit the typical billboard dimensions. 
  • Designs need to be 300 DPI.
  • Please include 1" of bleed around the border. 
  • Files need to be .EPS, .AI, or Vector files. 
  • File size should be no more than 50 MB. 
  • Avoid white backgrounds. 
  • Except for the ODOT logo, font size should be at least 15 inches tall on the billboard.

Logo

​​By submitting a design, students affirm that the design is their own original work and not in violation of any copyright, trademark, or intellectual property rights of any other person or entity. 

By submitting a design, students grant ODOT and its partners an unlimited license to use and reproduce the designs for the purposes stated above.  

Submitting your entry

Submission requires two steps. Both steps must be completed in order to be elligible to win. 
  1. Upload your file to our dropbox.
  2. Fill out the following form.