The Virginia Lottery launched its “Thank a Teacher” art contest for the second year on Jan. 2. K-12 students attending Virginia’s public schools are encouraged to create the artwork that could appear on thank-you notes that will be distributed to thousands of teachers during National Teacher Appreciation Week, May 6 –10.

Open from Jan. 2 – Feb. 1, the Virginia Lottery will accept submissions online.

Winners will be selected from three levels: elementary school, middle school and high school.

The winners will each receive $1,000 for their school’s art department and a $150 gift card, in addition to having their original artwork featured on thousands of 2019 thank-you notes distributed across the Commonwealth.

Thank a Teacher is a statewide campaign organized by the Virginia Lottery in partnership with the Virginia PTA and Virginia Tourism Corporation.

Each year, these partners encourage students, parents and the general public to send thank-you notes to Virginia’s public school teachers during National Teacher Appreciation Week. The three student artists selected as winners last year had their artwork shared on more than 35,000 thank-you notes as part of the 2018 Thank a Teacher campaign.

Entries for the art contest will be judged by a blue-ribbon panel of various members of the arts community in Virginia, and winning designs will be revealed in March.

For more information about the “Thank a Teacher” art contest eligibility requirements, design criteria, prize structure and submission guidelines, visit ThankaTeacherVA.com.