The District of Lake Country’s street banner program is a community beautification effort aimed at involving residents and highlighting the work of local artists. The banner designs will be chosen through a contest that welcomes entries from all community members.
Through a call for entries, we are seeking images that are, in some way, inspired by or rooted in Lake Country, promoting unique aspects of our community, reflecting community values and priorities, promoting civic beautification, and inspiring our community. There are no specific requirements that the applicant must reside in Lake Country.
The following visual art categories may be submitted: • Photography • Digital art • Collage • Painting and illustration • Printmaking
The selected images will be paired with a colour coordinated wordmark banner and placed on the side of street poles in Lake Country’s Town Centre area.
Applications will be accepted until June 30, 2025 at 12pm PST
To see an example of how artwork will be represented on the banners please click here [PDF/2.6MB].
Interested in submitting?
Please review the contest rules and technical specifications and then complete the Entry Form.
Banner selection process
Each contestant may submit up to 5 entries. Each entry requires its own entry form.
Deadline for entry is June 30, 2025 at 12pm PST
Up to 20 images will be chosen by the Public Art Advisory Commission
All selected images will be displayed on street banners starting August 2025 for a period of 3-4 years
A $300 honorarium will be awarded for each of the selected images
The artist retains sole copyright to his/her artwork. The District of Lake Country will have unlimited reproduction rights to all contest submissions
Enter by clicking on the entry form link, then follow instructions for uploading your contest submissions. Contest entries are limited to 5 entries per person. Each entry requires its own entry form.
All entries must be inspired by or rooted in Lake Country in some way. Carefully describe how your image reflects this theme within the entry form.
Submit only high-resolution images in portrait (vertical) format only. Landscape (horizontal) images cannot be used for banners. See technical specifications for how to choose, save, and prepare the right images for your submission. All artwork that does not meet proportions, will be cropped to meet banner fabrication requirements.
For photographic entries, all images must be created in Lake Country, BC only. All non-Lake Country images will be removed from the contest and ineligible for selection.
For digital artwork entries, the use of artificial intelligence (AI) applications including adobe generative fill, Midjourney, Firefly, etc. to create banner contest submissions is strictly prohibited. If your entry is suspected as being created with an AI application, you must be able to provide raw digital files for verification of authenticity upon request. Failure to comply will result in contest disqualification.
For original artwork entries, such as collage, watercolour, acrylic or print making mediums, we are not accepting “dropped off” original artwork submissions. Please photograph and upload your submission online only. If your artwork is selected as a final banner design, we will contact you to arrange drop-off of the original artwork for high-resolution scanning.
The District of Lake Country may disqualify banner submissions that may, in the opinion of the District of Lake Country, infringe on applicable intellectual property (copyright) laws.
District of Lake Country employees, Public Art Advisory Commission members, and their immediate family are ineligible for the contest.
Technical Specifications
Preparing your submission:
All digital photographs must be taken in Lake Country, BC and meet the following guidelines in order to be considered for the contest. Please note: Images not created in Lake Country, BC will be removed from the contest and ineligible for selection.
Submit only portrait / vertically oriented photographs in order to retain the integrity of the original photograph. Landscape / horizontal oriented images are discouraged due to need for severe cropping to fit the banner dimensions.
Only original, digital photographs, not previously submitted to the Lake Country Street Banner Contest, will be accepted.
We are accepting online contest entries only. To submit your banner design, click the entry form link and complete the online entry form. Each entry requires its own entry form.
Photographs containing people, whose identities are clearly discernible, must submit a completed photo release form [PDF/158KB] with their banner contest entry. All release forms must be signed and dated by the subject(s) in the photo or their parent/guardian. Release forms will be subject to confirmation by District staff for authenticity. Incomplete forms will result in the automatic rejection of your submission. Download Photo Release Form [PDF/158KB]
The District of Lake Country may disqualify banner submission that may, in the opinion of the District of Lake Country, infringe on applicable intellectual property (copyright) laws.
Each digital file submitted must be identified by your full name and name of artwork. For example: John Doe-Serene Water.jpg **Please note: DO NOT upload your files with only the image number from your computer. Due to the volume of contest submissions and the need to correctly track all entries, files not conforming to the naming procedure may be disqualified.**
Technical specifications:
Image resolution and minimum requirements: high resolution, cropped, vertical photographic image(s) measuring minimum 2400x6000 pixels @ 300dpi.
Submissions that do not meet the minimum image resolution stipulated above may be disqualified because they cannot be successfully enlarged to meet the District’s banner production requirements.
Adjustments to lighting and colour enhancement are permitted; however, any photographic manipulation, adjustments and enhancements deemed excessive / artificial may be disqualified. These include excessive / unrealistic HDR treatments, oversaturated / unrealistic colour treatments, photo composites, excessive generative AI retouching, etc.
IMPORTANT! Without limitations, the use of artificial intelligence (AI) applications including Adobe Generative Fill, Midjourney, Firefly, etc. to create banner contest submissions is strictly prohibited. If your entry is suspected as being created with an AI application, you must be able to provide raw digital files for verification of authenticity upon request. Failure to comply will result in contest disqualification.
Digital camera Image format:
All submissions should be high resolution JPG only. Do not send RAW, TIFF or PSD files for the contest entry at this time.
If possible, shoot images for your banner design in RAW image format (either CR2, NEF or RAF).
If your photograph is selected, you will be contacted by the District for an uncompressed, high-resolution TIFF or RAW image file if it is available.
Smartphone Camera Image Format:
If entering 14MP or larger smartphone photographs, please ensure that you are downloading and submitting the highest quality image possible from your device.
Ensure that you are capturing / creating your digital smartphone photo in vertical / portrait orientation only.
Convert your HEIC image format to JPG and follow the file naming standard above before uploading your submission.
Preparing your submission:
All digital illustration, matte painting and collage artworks must meet the following guidelines in order to be considered for the contest.
ALL Digital artwork should be created at a minimum 300dpi.
Minimum size of artwork must maintain a proportional scale of 8 x 20”. Artwork not meeting the size requirement will be subject to cropping at the graphic designer’s discretion.
The recommended format for digital illustrations is vector- or raster-based images for digital collage and digitally painted designs.
Words, letters and numbers may be included in the overall design if they are related to the theme of the artwork.
We are accepting online contest entries only. To submit your banner design, click the entry form link. Each entry requires its own entry form.
Each digital file submitted must be identified by your full name and artwork name. For example: John Doe-Serene Water.jpg Please note: Due to the volume of contest submissions and the need to correctly track all entries, files that do not conform to the naming procedure may be disqualified.
Technical Specifications:
Image resolution and minimum requirements: 2400x6000 pixels @ 300dpi
Submissions that do not meet this image resolution may be disqualified because they cannot be successfully enlarged to meet the District’s banner production requirements.
Colour space preference is CMYK, but sRGB is acceptable. Please note: colours may shift in conversion from sRGB to CMYK - please bear that in mind when creating your digital artwork.
All submissions should be high resolution JPG only. Do not send AI, EPS, PDF, or PSD files for the contest entry at this time.
IMPORTANT! Without limitations, the use of artificial intelligence (AI) applications including Adobe Generative Fill, Midjourney, Firefly, etc. to create banner contest submissions is strictly prohibited. If your entry is suspected as being created with an AI application, you must be able to provide raw digital files for verification of authenticity upon request. Failure to comply will result in contest disqualification.
Preparing your submission:
All collage, painted and printmaking artworks must meet the following guidelines in order to be considered for the contest.
All artwork must be original, handmade and created by the artist submitting the contest entry
Absolutely no mechanical reproductions of original works are permitted.
Absolutely no copyrighted, unaltered original images such as magazine and/or book images are permitted in the final submitted artwork. All collage works must contain only copyright free or creative commons images, and all images must be credited to the original source if not an original work from the submitting artist.
Minimum finished artwork size must maintain a proportional scale of 8" x 20”. Artwork not meeting the size requirement will be subject to cropping at the graphic designer’s discretion.
Words, letters and numbers may be included in the overall design if they are related to the theme of the banner artwork.
We are accepting online entries only. To submit your original artwork banner design, please take a high resolution photo or scan of the artwork and upload your contest entry by completing the entry form. Each entry requires its own entry form.
If your design is selected as a winner, we will contact you to arrange drop-off of the original art. The artwork will be professionally scanned, at very high resolution, in order for it to be appropriately resized and made into a street banner. Original artwork will be returned to the artist after completion of the scanning process.
