By Jubenal Aguilar
Managing Editor

Brookhaven College students, staff and faculty will have the opportunity to have their creative work worn and displayed by all Brookhaven employees who attend Dallas County Community College District’s districtwide conference Aug 18. This opportunity is available through a design contest for Brookhaven’s DCCCD Conference Day T-shirt.

“The winning design will be immortalized on a T-shirt worn by hundreds of Brookhaven employees,” according to the contest submission page. The winner will receive a T-shirt and special recognition on the college’s social media sites.

According to a campuswide email, the President’s Office has purchased customized T-shirts for all past Brookhaven conference attendees. Thom Chesney, Brookhaven president, has led the design efforts, Meridith Danforth, marketing and creative services director, said.

“This year he wanted to see what somebody else thought was a good idea,” Danforth said.

The deadline for submissions is 1 p.m. April 28 in Room S244.

T-shirt designs should reflect the pride and values of Brookhaven, according to the contest guidelines. “By and large, we wanted to let people have as much freedom as they could,” Danforth said.

All entries must be the original creation of the artist and should incorporate the college’s brand, such as colors, mascot or logos, according to the contest guidelines. College logos may be used, but may not be distorted, stretched or altered. Participants in need of access to logos, or royalty- and copyright-free images, may contact Danforth.

Other trademarks, logos or copyrighted work are not permitted.

According to the guidelines, the design may not be more than 8 inches wide by 8 inches high. Only one color, which will be on a green T-shirt, is permitted for designs. The design may be for the back or front of the T-shirt, but not both, Danforth said in an email to The Courier.

Submission files must be sent in High Res PDF, Adobe Illustrator file – EPS or AI – or Adobe Photoshop PSD. JPEG files will not be accepted.

Ray-Mel Cornelius, a visual communications professor, encouraged all visual communications students to enter the contest. “It’s another opportunity to be presented with a creative problem to solve and that’s what this is, what they’ve been trained to do – to solve a problem creatively,” Cornelius said.

Karen Bloocher, a student, said she created and submitted a design after being encouraged by Cornelius. “It’s a great opportunity to get my stuff out there and to figure out how to design things that would be on a T-shirt as opposed to things I would mount on a board,” Bloocher said.

Jahana Jaramillo, a student, said she is working on three designs to submit. “I like that my design could be seen by everybody here in Brookhaven and any other place,” Jaramillo said.

A panel of judges will select the top entries, according to contest guidelines. Selections will be put to a public vote May 1-10 where staff and faculty will have the opportunity so select their favorite submission.

“The idea of having 400-500 people wearing what I designed, that’s a bit of an ego boost,” Danforth said.

Finalists will be notified of their advancement to the public voting round where faculty and staff have the final say in the design selection. The winner will be notified via email or phone May 19.

All submissions must be submitted online or dropped off by 1 p.m. April 28 in Room S244. Submissions may also be emailed to Danforth. Participants with additional questions may contact Danforth via email at [email protected] or by calling 972-860-4774.