“I Voted” sticker design contest

Official rules & guidelines

Eligibility

All Albany County, NY students in grades K-12 during the 2025-26 school year.

Requirements

  • The sticker design must include the phrase “I Voted” and should express support for voting or elections through words or pictures.
  • All entries must consist entirely of original, non-copyrighted artwork and may not include photographs or trademarked images. Plagiarized images will be disqualified.
  • All entries should be nonpartisan and cannot reference any candidate, political party, or political issue.
  • The judges reserve the right to disqualify any entry that contains images considered to be obscene, inappropriate, defamatory, or not in compliance with these rules and guidelines.
  • Only one entry per student may be submitted.
  • Homeschooled students are eligible to submit an entry.
  • Designs may be created using crayons, paint, pencil, ink, other mixed media materials, or digital drawing and art tools.
  • Submissions must be able to be fitted to a 2-inch circular sticker.
  • To accommodate print quality, digital designs should be submitted as vector files, or high-resolution JPG files with a minimum resolution of 300 dpi.

Entry submissions

  • Entry period begins March 16, 2026, and ends July 10, 2026.
  • Digital entries must be submitted to AlbanyCountyIVoted@albanycountyny.gov no later than midnight July 10, 2026.
  • Physical entries can be dropped off at some area schools and at the Harold L. Joyce Albany County Office Building on 112 State Street, Albany by July 10, 2026. PLEASE NOTE: physical entry deadline times vary by location. A schedule of drop-off sites is attached, but please check com/ivotedsticker for updates.
  • All entries must include the name, age, grade, current school (or statement that the student is homeschooled), and contact information (address, phone number and email) of the student submitting artwork.
  • Any student under the age of 18 is required to have a parent or guardian complete the attached Parent/Guardian Consent with their entry.

Judging criteria

  • Designs will be evaluated by a panel of judges who will select the finalists using the following criteria:
    • Artistic Skill and Excellence
    • Meaningful and Consistent Theme
    • Uniqueness of the Design
  • The panel of judges will consist of the following individuals:
    • (5) Representatives from the Albany County Legislature
    • (1) County Board of Elections Representative
    • (1) Community Member

Public voting

  • Begins on August 3, 2026 and ends on August 31, 2026.
  • An individual may vote only once on a design from the selected finalists.
  • The design that receives the most votes from the general public will be the winner. In the event of a tie, the winner will be determined by the judges’ overall scores of the finalists.

Ownership of Entries

All original artwork submitted will become the property of Albany County and will not be returned to the entrant.

  • In addition, you agree to grant Albany County a non-exclusive, fully paid-up and royalty-free, worldwide license to use, modify, delete from, add to, publicly perform, publicly display, reproduce, and translate your design entry, including without limitation, the exclusive right to distribute all or part of your design entry in any media or social media formats and channels in perpetuity.
  • By submitting a design entry, you agree and consent to the use of your design, name, school name, your photograph, and a photograph of your artwork to be used by Albany County in connection with this contest and its related marketing activities, in any media format or channels now known or hereafter invented, in any and all locations, without any payment to or further approval from you.
  • By submitting your original artwork, you agree that your consent is final and cannot be revoked.
  • By submitting your original artwork, you are acknowledging that you have read and agree to the terms and conditions of these rules and to the release of liability described herein.

Drop-off locations

Contest deadline: July 10, 2026

  • Physical entries must be dropped off no later than the time noted below on the final day of the contest.
  • Digital entries will be accepted by email until midnight on that date (see contest rules above for details).
  • The Harold L. Joyce Albany County Office Building will have an entry box in the main lobby available weekdays until the contest deadline.
  • Additional drop-off boxes in local school district buildings are available based on their office hours. Please carefully check their listing below before planning your drop-off.

This list is subject to change. For the most up-to-date list, please visit albanycounty.com/ivotedsticker

Harold L. Joyce Albany County Office Building
112 State Street, Albany, NY, 12207
Monday-Friday, 8:00AM-4:00PM, through contest deadline

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