Safe Rides, Everyday Heroes
The Iowa Department of Education is excited to announce the first annual Iowa School Bus Safety Week Poster Contest. The inaugural theme is “Safe Rides, Everyday Heroes”.
Artistic and creative students of Iowa are encouraged to participate! In addition to showcasing student creativity, the contest also allows students to spread the word about school bus safety throughout Iowa.
Winning artists will receive recognition from the Department in May. Prints of winning posters will be made available across the state in time for National School Bus Safety Week (Oct. 19-23, 2026). The winning posters in each division will also advance to the national competition.
Students will compete in one of the six divisions listed below. Entries must be received no later than April 17, 2026, and can be submitted by mail or electronically.
Contest Rules
Submission Deadline: Posters must be received by Friday, April 17, 2026 at 11:59 p.m. CST.
Divisions:
- Division 1: Grades K-2
- Division 2: Grades 3-5
- Division 3: Grades 6-8
- Division 4: Special Education (Grades K-12)
- Division 5: CAD (Computer Aided Drawing)
Poster Theme: Every poster must (1) reflect the 2025-26 poster contest theme as written below (including punctuation), and (2) show at least a part of a yellow school bus.
Safe Rides, Everyday Heroes
Posters that do not reflect the theme as written above are ineligible to participate.
Size/Orientation: Completed poster size must be 11" x 17" or 12" x 18". Posters may be illustrated on the vertical or horizontal axis.
Poster Paper: Designs should be submitted on quality tag, poster illustration board or heavy paper. Construction paper may be used but entries must be mounted on quality tag poster. Lamination is not permitted and will disqualify the poster.
Colors: There is no limitation on the use and number of colors.
Media: There is no limitation on the type of media, such as print, crayon, felt pen, etc., used on the poster design. However, wood, plastic, glass or metal should not be part of the poster. Collage materials should not be used. Glued on pieces will disqualify the poster.
Lettering and Drawing: The poster design may incorporate freehand letters only. Stenciled, preprinted, manufactured stick-on or press-on letters or tracings may not be used and will disqualify the poster. Lettering should be clearly legible, even if used as part of the poster design. Cut paper / stencils (freehand or pre-drawn stick-on stencils) are not permitted and will disqualify the poster.
Copyright Materials: Poster designs may not incorporate any copyrighted materials (i.e. company name, logo, comic and/or television characters/titles), including stock artwork, photographs or other images of common places, landmarks, nature, events or people; clip art, meaning anything from an existing collection of pictures or images that can be imported from or into the poster; and non-original raster graphics or vector graphics.
Important: School bus and school district names and/or logos could be considered copyrighted material and should be removed from all submissions (drawings and CAD).
Creative: Drawings must be original, correct in safety concept and the exclusive work of the student entering the contest in idea, design and execution. All artwork should be positive in approach, demonstrating only proper school bus safety behaviors.
Submissions
Mail-In Submission Information: There must be an entry label securely fastened to the back of the poster which includes the student's name, grade, age, teacher's name, email address, school name and school address. Please print clearly. Do not place name, school etc., on the front of the poster. Display information on the back only. The entry label must be used as it contains all the required information.
Do not roll posters. They must be mailed/delivered flat. Mail/deliver posters to the Department at the address below.
Iowa Department of Education
Bureau of School Business Operations
400 E 14th St
Des Moines, IA 50319
Digital Submission Information: Digital submissions may be submitted in PDF or high-resolution PNG or JPG. PNG or JPG images must have a minimum resolution of 300 dpi at 11"x 17". This means the image should have 3300 pixels in width and 5100 pixels in height to achieve the desired resolution and print size. Entry will be submitted via the 2025-26 Iowa School Bus Safety Week Poster Contest Digital Entry Form.
Judging Criteria
Judging Criteria: Prominent individuals in the field of pupil transportation will evaluate posters. Criteria for the selection of award-winning posters are listed below.
- Safety Impact: Relationship of the poster design to school bus safety practices
- Originality: Originality of the poster and how the idea is expressed in the poster design
- Artistic Quality: Artwork and its execution
- Visual Impact: Visual impact of the poster design