Call for Entries – Submissions due September 25th, 2026

What does a healthier New York State look like?

To celebrate Children’s Environmental Health Day on Thursday October 8th, 2026 nyscheck.org is seeking creative people of all ages to share their visions of what a healthy community looks like.

Environmental health considers pollutants in air, water, food and other consumer products; healthy homes, schools, workplaces and neighborhoods; and social determinants such as poverty and racism.

Here are some past galleries from 2025 and 2024 for examples.

Alston Fila 1st Grade

Download the flyer PDF with the contest information.

Use the button or scan the QR code below for the entry form.

Create an original artwork that captures your vision in one of two categories:

Healthy Neighborhoods

What do neighborhoods and community gathering spaces that are healthy and resilient for people look like? What are solutions or ways that you can imagine to make our neighborhoods healthier?

The New York State Department of Health runs the successful NYS Healthy Neighborhoods Program (HNP) in New York City and 17 counties (Broome, Cattaragus, Cayuga, Clinton, Columbia, Cortland, Erie, Genesee, Madison, Monroe, Niagara, Onondaga, Orange, Rockland, Shenectady, Seneca, and Tompkins). This program provides in-home assessments and interventions to reduce negative health outcomes from asthma, indoor air quality, childhood lead poisoning prevention, and injury prevention.

This program has been very successful: just for asthma, in homes that receive HNP visits, kids with asthma missed 2.5 fewer days of school and yielded over $1,000 in in savings for medicaid managed care plans, meaning less doctor and hospital visits, and less need for medications! You can learn more about New York State’s Healthy Neighborhood Program here: Healthy Neighborhoods Program

Healthy Homes

What do homes, apartments, shelters, and other types of housing that are healthy for people look like to you? What can you tell us about problems and around building and maintaining health spaces where people live, and how do you imagine fixing homes that need help becoming healthier?

The New York City Department of Housing Preservation & Development runs a Lead Hazard Reduction & Healthy Homes – Primary Prevention Program (PPP) that offers federally funded grants for reduction of lead paint hazards to owners of eligible residential buildings constructed prior to 1960. This program exists to assist owners in reducing lead paint hazards to prevent childhood lead poisoning. New York City and New York State also have excellent resource pages about how to improve housing quality and reduce environmental exposures in homes to support the health of children and families.

To learn more:

Contest Details

Select works will be awarded prizes, published on nyscheck.org and social media platforms, and presented at our Children’s Environmental Health Day celebration in October.

Submissions due by September 25th, 2026.

Eligibility: NYS students of all ages, along with professional studies trainees.

Criteria: Original artworks only, including videos, drawings, paintings, creative writing, photos and mixed media. (Avoid using clip art, stock images, or artificially generated images [AI].) If you are submitting a photo of your artwork, please make sure it is well lit and at least 150 dpi resolution so that the judges can appreciate the quality of the work.

Permission of Use: All submissions to the contest serve as a license to the New York State Children’s Environmental Health Centers (NYSCHECK) for non-exclusive, irrevocable, and royalty-free publishing of the artist’s artwork in NYSCHECK media, outreach/education, and promotional print and digital materials for all lawful uses including artwork print sales in accordance with NYSCHECK’s mission. All published artwork will be credited to the artist.

For any additional questions, please contact us at healthy.nyschild@gmail.com.

How to Submit:

Upload the artwork or a photo of the artwork using this submission form link or the QR code on this page.

https://forms.gle/pqKSGMMhDrdN97THA

If you have issues or questions, please reach out to healthy.nyschild@gmail.com.

Guidelines for Judging:

  1. Relation to theme: 50%
  2. Artistic Skill: 20%
    1. Did the artist demonstrate skill and effort for their age?
    2. Does the artwork convey its theme well?
  3. Creativity: 30%
    1. Is the artwork conveying a novel or under-appreciated theme?
    2. Is the artwork presenting its theme in a interesting way?