UW Recycling's 2025 Trash Art Contest opens February 12! Participants must create an art piece from items normally thought of as waste or a literary piece about waste and sustainability. This contest is open to all UW students, faculty and staff.
Categories include:
- 2D art
- 3D art
- Textile art
- Literature
Submissions are due March 28, 2025 at 4 p.m. PDT. Winners for each category will receive $100 or $50 e-gift cards to a low-waste shop or art store.
The contest receives creative and impressive submissions every year. Check out the 2024 winners and submissions from past years.
Contest Rules & Guidelines
How to Submit
Participants must fill out the online submission form by Friday March 28, 2025 at 4:00 p.m. PDT.
Contest Rules
Submissions that do not meet these requirements will not be considered.
- Artist(s) must be a current UW student, faculty or staff member.
- The art piece can be an individual or group project. Each participant may only submit one art project, whether it is a group project or individual submission.
- All entries must be original works by the entrant(s).
- Artwork and written work should reflect the theme of waste & sustainability.
- The art piece must be submitted under one of the following categories:
- 2D (pieces that may be hung on a wall like painting, photography, or collage)
- 3D (sculpture, model or other pieces that stand upright)
- Textile (art created predominantly from textile and fiber art techniques – like sewing, weaving, embroidery, knitting, crocheting, quilting, etc.)
- Literature (short-form written work: essay, poetry, drama, story, etc.)
- All projects should be safe to handle and display (no hazards, etc.). Submissions must adhere to the UW Libraries Exhibits Policy and the Safety & Display Expectations of Odegaard Undergraduate Library Exhibit Space.
- The art piece may not be a work previously submitted to the UW Trash Art Contest.
Category-specific Rules
If you’re unsure of which category to submit your art to, please email recycle@uw.edu. The UW Recycling team would be happy to help you.
2D, 3D & Textile Art
- Textile, 2D and 3D art pieces must be composed of recycled, salvaged or collected litter materials.
- 2D, 3D and Textile submissions must be created from individual’s personal waste. Material purchased with University funds, regardless of condition, cannot be used for this contest. Please do not take or use material from campus waste bins or “dumpster dive” in public areas. Submissions that use material from campus/public waste areas or material purchased with University funds will be ineligible to win or receive a prize.
- Physical art pieces larger than 40 inches in height, length or depth may not be displayed in the art exhibit due to space constraints. If a winning piece is larger than 40 inches, a photo of the art piece may be exhibited instead.
Literature
- Submissions may be any format (poetry, a short story, essay, etc.) but should not exceed 5,000 words.
Judging Criteria
Submissions are judged based on the following criteria:
- Creativity/originality
- Impact & quality
- 2D, 3D & Textile Art: Visual impact & quality
- Literature: Emotional impact & quality
- Interpretation of theme
- Relevance to personal and/or the UW campus waste
See the guiding questions for further information on the judging criteria for literature and art categories.
Prizes
Each winning entry will receive one e-gift card of their choosing to one of the following locations. 1st place winners for each category will receive a $100 e-gift card and 2nd place winners will receive a $50 e-gift card.
- A Drop in the Ocean (Tacoma)
- Artist & Craftsman Supply (Seattle)
- PUBLIC (West Seattle)
- Seattle ReCreative (Seattle)
- Refugee Artisan Initiative (Seattle)
Publication
Winning pieces will be displayed in an exhibit at Odegaard Undergraduate Library during the month of April.
All contest submissions will have their art piece, artist bio, and piece description highlighted on UW Sustainability’s In Our Nature blog, as well as UW Recycling’s Instagram. Submissions may also be featured on other University of Washington platforms.