Enter the Oya No Kai Art Search!

Oya No Kai’s art search for our 2024 merchandise design is open! Anyone in the Japanese Dual Language Immersion program community is eligible to submit artwork: students, parents, alumni, extended family and other friends of Oya No Kai. The winning art will be showcased on all of 2024’s Oya No Kai gear, from T-shirts to stickers to drinkware.

A Community of Artists

The Oya No Kai community is full of amazing, creative parents, students, alumni, and volunteers. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the artwork featured at our annual auction. Traditionally, an Oya No Kai parent has volunteered their time and artistic talent to create each year’s design.

We want to recognize our inspiring community by inviting you to submit artwork that may appear on this year’s T-shirts, hats, sweatshirts, tote bags, juice glasses, and more. The winner will receive an Oya No Kai swag bag full of gear featuring their artwork!

Artwork and the Auction

The annual Oya No Kai Auction is our primary fundraiser. It supports the Japanese Dual Language Immersion program from top to bottom, providing funding for our incoming and outgoing exchanges, scholarships to support our students on the exchanges, as well as our intern program. Every year, we choose a design to represent the program and inspire our students. This artwork is featured on fundraising merchandise and holds a place of honor at the annual auction.

Submission Deadline

Art must be submitted by Sunday, October 1st 11:59pm. Submit here, or use the button below.

Questions? Email artwork@oyanokai.org

Thematic Considerations

Since 2024 will Oya No Kai’s 35th anniversary and the Year of the Dragon, we invite you to submit artwork on the theme “How a Dragon Celebrates.”

Designs that incorporate a kanji — such as 2021’s “Amabie” design — are greatly appreciated, but not required.

Please consider the cultural context of your submission — both in terms of language, but also how it translates from American culture to Japanese and vice versa.

We recommend that your artwork includes “Oya No Kai” in English and/or Japanese as part of the overall design, but the Oya No Kai logo may be used instead. (See the 2022 Koi design and the 2023 Kitsugi design, for example).

Examples

A few examples are provided below. Artists are highly encouraged to take a look at the Oya No Kai merchandise page to see how your artwork may be used.

Technical Specifications

To be considered, your design must meet the following technical specifications:

• Must be in vector (.eps, .ai) or Photoshop (.psd) format.
• Must include no more than four colors (including white), with 1-2 single color options for juice glasses.
• Photoshop files must be at least 300 DPI and built at the approximate full size for printing.

Selection Process

An Art Search committee will select a short list of pieces, which will then be considered by the full Oya No Kai Board. The Art Search Committee will finalize the winning art and unveil it on October 6, 2023.

** Committee and Board members are welcome to submit pieces, but must recuse themselves from the voting.

** Oya No Kai will retain the image’s copyright and acknowledge the artist at every opportunity.