Drawing the Lines 2008

In 2008 the National Museum of Australia will be running a national political cartooning competition for upper primary and secondary school students. This competition is run in conjunction with the annual exhibition Behind the Lines: The Year's Best Cartoons.

Students must submit a black and white or colour cartoon, on A4 paper, dealing with a recent political issue of national significance. A selection of the best entries will be displayed on the National Museum's website.

Prizes will be awarded as follows:

• Winner, best student cartoon, primary schools: $500 + travel and accommodation to Canberra for awards ceremony
• Runner-up, best student cartoon, primary schools: $250 + travel and accommodation to Canberra for awards ceremony
• Winner, best student cartoon, secondary schools: $500 + travel and accommodation to Canberra for awards ceremony
• Runner-up, best student cartoon, secondary schools: $250 + travel and accommodation to Canberra for awards ceremony
• Highly Commended, best student cartoon (up to 20 awarded across both categories): $100
• Winner, best class entry, primary schools: $500 + a framed original Peter Nicholson cartoon. See below for more about this prize.
• Winner, best class entry, secondary schools: $500 + a framed original Peter Nicholson cartoon. See below for more about this prize.

About the best class entry prize
This prize will be awarded to the school which has the best overall class entry.

The awarding of this prize will be based upon two criteria:

1. the overall standard of entries from the class
2. how cartooning has been used to teach the class.

To help us determine the winning class, we would like as much information as possible to support each class entry. This could include a short diary, a written report up to 500 words, photos, videos and so on. We may also contact the class teacher to discuss the entry in more detail.

Entries must be postmarked on or before 17 October 2008.

Further details, including entry forms and conditions, are available from 'Attachments' below.

See 'Related links' to view cartoons from last year's competition as well as previous Behind the Lines exhibitions. Units of work related to political cartooning are also available for download.

Contact
Cartoons competition coordinator
Education Section
National Museum of Australia
Phone (02) 6208 5032
Email education@nma.gov.au