Enter creative works in District 214 Arts Unlimited contest
The story has been updated to reflect the correct name, Arts Unlimited Community Art & Writing contest. Also, it has been updated to reflect the new deadline for submissions: March 16.
Bill Leece, the former longtime yearbook adviser at Rolling Meadows High School, returns this year to judge prose entries for the Arts Unlimited Community Art & Writing contest hosted by the Daily Herald and Northwest Suburban High School District 214.
He says he cannot wait.
“Here I am, a retired journalism and English teacher, waiting patiently to be spellbound once more by the writers who complete this assignment,” says Leece, a resident of Cary.
“Write something that will entrance the readers, let the power and beauty of your words wash over them.”
Once again, in conjunction with the Arts Alive celebration hosted by District 214, the collaboration between district officials and the Daily Herald encourages adults in the community to channel their inner creative sides.
Submissions of artwork, poetry and prose will be accepted and judged by a panel of professionals in the arts. Along with Leece is Jeff Arena, a published poet and marketing director of The Morton Arboretum, who also serves on the Highland Park Cultural Arts Commission.
Rounding out the group is artist Gary Drake, a former art teacher at Hersey High School who works in oil paintings, ceramics, glass and sculpture.
The deadline for submissions has been extended to March 16, and individuals must live within the communities served by District 214: Arlington Heights, Buffalo Grove, Elk Grove Village, Mount Prospect, Prospect Heights, Rolling Meadows and Wheeling.
All entries must be sent via email. Winners will be notified by email by March 30, and cash prizes, as well as the chance to be published in the Daily Herald, will be at stake.
Last year, the community contest drew 130 entries. However, the judges agree that the process of creating a work of art for competition goes beyond winning prizes.
“I enjoy the submissions, in part, because they make a mosaic of the experiences that shape our community,” Arena says. “I read them all quite a few times over many days to give each a chance to echo in my own life.
“I think poets, especially those willing to share their work,” he adds, “make themselves exceptionally vulnerable. It's an honor, then, to be asked to consider their work.”
Drake, who taught in the fine arts department at Hersey for 35 years, says he hopes that art entries reflect more than meets the eye.
“What I hope to see is the artist facing a problem and using visual means to solve that problem,” Drake says.
“The problem can be conceptual, technical or both.”
All entries are judged blindly by the professionals, without knowing anything about the artist or writer behind the piece. That's the beauty of the contest, Leece says.
“I never know whose writing what I'm reading, so I guess,” he says. “It must be an adolescent boy, but no, it's a middle-aged woman adopting the voice of a young boy.
“Or when I'm certain that it's an aging adult who wrote this,” Leece adds, “but no, it's the other senior, a high school senior. Really, I'm overwhelmed again.”
Submission guidelines
What: Artwork, poetry and prose (any genre, style or theme) from individuals residing in Arlington Heights, Buffalo Grove, Elk Grove, Mount Prospect, Prospect Heights, Rolling Meadows and Wheeling.
• Winners will be published in the Daily Herald and recognized at the Arts Unlimited Reception on April 18. Winners will also receive cash prizes.
• All entries must be submitted electronically, via email, to herald.contest@d214.org
• All pieces submitted must be original works.
• Only one submission per category, per individual.
• Writing must be typed (prose should be double-spaced) in 12-point font,
• Prose should not exceed 1,500 words.
• Poems should not exceed 50 lines.
• Writing must be attached as a Word file.
• Writing must be carefully proofread and free of copy editing errors.
• Artwork must be attached as a JPEG, minimum 300 dpi, and print-ready.
• Email body must Include entrant's name, title of piece, address, phone number
Do not submit artwork or writing that:
• is derogatory, demeaning, malicious, defamatory, abusive, or hateful;
• makes threats of any kind or that intimidates, harasses, or bullies;
• depicts graphic or gratuitous violence;
• is obscene, pornographic, or sexually explicit.