MDPLS Teen Library Card Design Contest

About the Program

Category: Libraries (Best in Category)

Year: 2022

The Teen Library Card Design Contest is an artistic competition of the Miami-Dade Public Library System (MDPLS) established in 2020 to create an avenue for teenage patrons to display their artistic talent and promote library card signup and use. The contest also increased the amount of teen involvement with the library while creating a vehicle to celebrate young local artists in the library community. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the contest allowed contestants to submit digital and physically drawn entries virtually. A committee of library staff creates a theme each year that promotes the library system and its services. Each year, the committee selects the top three designs. Winners are eligible for prizes, and the winning design is used to create a limited-edition library card design that all MDPLS patrons can select form when choosing from available designs. Each year, 10,000 cards are created and distributed to the branches of the library system for patrons to choose from. The inaugural 2020 contest resulted in twenty-five submissions. With increased efforts at outreach and communications with school staff, the 2021 contest resulted in eighty submissions.