NC 4th of July T-Shirt Design Contest

🎆 2027 NC 4th of July Festival T-Shirt Design Contest

We're looking for an original, creative design that captures the spirit of the NC 4th of July Festival!

Your artwork could become the official festival artwork for 2027, appearing on festival T-shirts and potentially other festival-related promotional materials and merchandise.

Whether you're a professional artist, a hobbyist, a photographer, a graphic designer, or simply someone with a great idea—we want to see what you've got!

📅 Deadline
December 1, 2026 at 11:59 p.m.

Entries received after the deadline may not be considered.

💰 Entry Fee
$10 per design submission

Entry fees are non-refundable, including if an entry is rejected or disqualified.

🎨 What Can You Create?
We're open to creativity!

Your submission may be created using:

• Photography
• Graphic design
• Painting
• Drawing or illustration
• Digital artwork
• Or any combination of these mediums

The only requirement is that your final submission works as a T-shirt design. Think about how your artwork will look when printed on a shirt—including its composition, colors, size, readability, and overall visual impact.

📁 Submission Requirements

1. Each design requires a $10 entry fee.
2. You may submit as many designs as you would like.
3. Each design must be submitted individually and requires its own $10 entry fee.
4. Only one design may be uploaded per submission.
5. Your final design must be submitted as a high-resolution .PNG file.
6. Designs should be at least 3000 × 3000 pixels. A transparent background is encouraged when appropriate.
7. Your design must be original to you.
8. AI may not be used in the creation of your final design.
9. Any copyrighted, trademarked, or third-party material used in your design must be properly authorized

🤖 Important: No AI
This is an original artwork contest, and we want to see what you can create.

The use of generative AI or AI-assisted tools in creating your submitted artwork is prohibited. This includes AI image generators, AI-generated artwork, AI-assisted artwork, generative fill, and similar tools used to create or materially contribute to the final design.

Normal digital design software is absolutely fine—we're not banning Photoshop, Illustrator, Procreate, etc.

If AI is determined to have been used in the creation of a submitted design, the design will be disqualified. This rule may also be enforced after a design has been selected as the winner.

🏆 What Does the Winner Get?
The winning artist will receive:

• Official recognition as the 2027 NC 4th of July Festival T-Shirt Design Contest winner
• Serious bragging rights
• A free T-shirt featuring their winning design
• The honor of having their artwork become part of the 2027 festival!

The winning artist will be notified by email following the December 2026 NC 4th of July Festival Board of Directors meeting.

Artist Bio Requirement: If selected as the winning artist, the artist will be required to submit an approximately 250-word biography/about-the-artist write-up for potential inclusion in the July issue of COAST Magazine. The biography must be submitted to the NC 4th of July Festival no later than May 1, 2027, and the artist is responsible for providing the requested content by that deadline.

Artist Optional Appearance:
The winning artist will have the opportunity to attend the First Friday Gallery Walk at the Southport Community Building on March 5, 2027. The winning artist will be invited to meet and greet festival supporters and community members, share their creative process, and set up a table to showcase their work. Participation is completely optional and is offered as an opportunity to connect with the community and celebrate the artist behind the 2027 festival artwork.

👀 Looking for Inspiration?
Check out examples of past festival designs here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/15eG5GreC9KzgdA_HboG2nwuF24ltFpcz?usp=drive_link

These examples are simply here to give you an idea of the types of artwork that have been featured in the past. We want to see your creativity—not a copy of what has already been done!

Ready to make your mark?

Submit your design and show us what the 2027 NC 4th of July Festival looks like to you!