IL Tollway is Holding an Art Contest for High School students

If you have any artists in the house that are of the high school age, then they can enter the Illinois Tollway Art Contest.

WREX news reports that "the Illinois Tollway, Blick Art Materials and MB Real Estate are inviting high school students in Northern Illinois to participate in the 2016 Tollway Map Cover Art Contest. The winner of the contest will have their art featured on the 2016 Illinois Tollway map along with other prizes."

The theme for this year's contest is "Save the Monarch's". It's and effort to promote the conservation of monarch butterflies, the state insect of Illinois. Their numbers one in the millions in the 1990's have continued to decline.

Students can submit original works of art that either illustrate the importance of monarch butterflies to the environment, or the use of land along interstates to provide food and refuge for the butterflies throughout Northern Illinois.

The contest will feature one grand prize winner and three runners-up. The grand prize winner will be featured on the 2016 map, and will receive a $400 gift certificate from Blick Art Materials and $100 in gift certificates to use at oases retail shops and restaurants.

The runners-up will each be featured in the Tollway's annual report, and will receive $200 gift certificates from Blick Art Materials and $100 in gift certificates to use at oases retail shops and restaurants. All participants will receive a certificate of appreciation.

Contest entries will be accepted beginning Sept. 1, and must be postmarked no later than Oct. 2.

For more information, contest rules and entries for the Illinois Tollway "Save the Monarchs" art contest, click here.