Calling all students!

Teens for Food Justice (TFFJ) invites all students from campuses with TFFJ farms to create a design for the official T-shirt for this year’s Student Leadership Conference (SLC). Your design could appear on the official T-shirt, event signage, and other conference swag at one of TFFJ’s biggest events of the year.

This Year’s Theme: Roots of Power

This theme celebrates the idea that real change grows from the ground up. As student leaders, the seeds you plant — in your farms, your schools, and your communities — grow into food, action, and impact that nourish the people around you. Roots keep us steady through challenges and give us the strength to rise. Our roots are our power.

How to Enter

Step 1: Create Your Design

Tips for a Strong Design

• Keep it simple
• Avoid small details or color gradients
• Think about what food justice, leadership, or community mean to you
• Avoid excessive text; let your art speak for itself
• Use solid colors, thick lines, and simple shapes
• Stick to flat, solid designs

Make it scalable so it looks good, large or small!

Digital Submissions

• Create your design using a digital art tool (Canva, Illustrator, Photoshop, Procreate, etc.)
• Save your file as a high-resolution PNG or PDF (300 dpi)
  • Use a white or transparent background
  • Upload to the Google Form linked below
    
• Do’s and Don’ts:
  • Artwork must be original and created by the applicant; AI-generated art is not allowed
  • Avoid low-resolution images (on the left). Create high-resolution images (right side)
  • Vector files are ideal! (A vector file is an image you can resize without it getting blurry.)

Here’s last year’s winning design from Taskina J. from The Scholars’ Academy for our theme, From Seeds To Solutions:

Hand-Drawn Submissions

• Draw your design on white paper only—cardstock is ideal.
• Use a black marker or pen—thicker lines are best
• Keep your design centered on the page 
  
• Options to submit a hand-drawn design:
  • Scanning:
    • Scan your finished drawing at high resolution (300 dpi)
      • You can scan your design on a copier at school or a public library if you don’t have a scanner at home
      • Save your file as a high-resolution PNG or PDF (300 dpi)
        • Upload to the Google Form linked below
          
    • Turn in at the Hydroponic Farm:
      • Turn in your hand-drawn submission at your school’s hydroponic farm
        • Provide to your Farmer-Educator or a TFFJ staff person before February 12th
          
• Examples of hand-drawn style submissions:

Step 2: Submit Your Design

Click the button below to fill out the Google Form and upload your file by February 12th.
Include your full name, school, and a short description of your design.

Contest Timeline

February 12th, 2026 – Deadline for submissions
March 6th – Winners announced
May 1st, 2026 – Winning design revealed at the 2026 Student Leadership Conference

Prizes

First Place: $100 gift card + your design featured on the 2026 SLC T-shirt
Second & Third Place: $50 gift card each

We can’t wait to see what you create! Submit your design, share your story, and help make this year’s Student Leadership Conference unforgettable.