Students can submit their campus artwork to the Student Activities Office for an opportunity to have it displayed on the cover of the 2026-27 school planner. 

Hillsdale’s artists are given the opportunity to design a cover for the upcoming school year’s planner each year. Designs can be any medium, including digital art, watercolor, and oils. These planners will be distributed at the beginning of the academic year on campus. Judges will determine a winner following the submission date. 

Competition organizer Emma Widmer, assistant director of the Student Activities Office, said individual perspective is important with the artwork. 

“The campus planner is a resource that is made available to students, faculty, and staff each year,” Widmer said. “For its cover, we are looking for a piece of student artwork that would appeal to this wide audience and capture the beauty of our campus and campus culture.” 

The completed design should relate to the individual student experience, the beauty of campus, or the values of the school, according to Widmer. 

The school recently made the move to student cover designers. A recent student cover designer was Caroline Hennekes ’21. Hennekes worked on watercolor depictions of Central Hall, and the school marketing team contacted her, requesting to use them for the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 covers.

 “I chose photos of Hillsdale campus that I took myself so that the piece is wholly my own work,” Hennekes said. “I also tried to pick photo references with unique perspectives of campus and Central Hall and veer away from references that are clearly a particular season because people will be using these planners all year round, not just in peak fall or winter.” 

Freshman Isabella Zatko appreciates the hands-on experience the school provides, as a competitor in the competition. 

“It’s really cool that the students get a chance to participate in the cover design instead of just having an administrator design it,” Zatko said. “It gives us more of a sense of being a part of a greater community of the school to be able to use our God given talents to create something we all can benefit from.” 

Freshman art major Elizabeth Cavrell said this competition allows artists an opportunity to recognize the complex elements of creating art in a professional field.

“It’s a great opportunity to think about how the composition, style, and subject matter will affect the marketability of the piece one will submit — how it affects the appeal of the piece, and what best represents the college,” Cavrell said.

More details regarding the competition and specifications can be found in the SAO newsletter.