Call for Art: Maine Coast Kraken

Entries Close October 20, 2026

Maine Coast Waldorf School invites students, alum, parents, faculty, staff, and friends of the MCWS community to submit original artwork imagining the Kraken, our school mascot.

Our goal is to find an image—or perhaps several images—that can help establish the Kraken's visual identity across athletics, school spirit, apparel, signage, and community traditions. We aren't necessarily looking for a conventional mascot logo. We are looking first for art: something imaginative, distinctive, beautiful, spirited, and unmistakably ours.

Please use the form below to upload your artwork and submit your entry.

Contest Details & Submission Requirements

Why the Kraken?

The Kraken gives Maine Coast Waldorf School an athletic identity rooted in place, alive with imagination, and distinctly our own. Maine's woods, fields, seasons, and coast are central to our identity; a legendary creature of the northern sea connects our athletics directly to home.

It celebrates imagination. At a school where imagination, art, story, and the natural world are woven throughout education, a mythical creature feels fitting.

It represents strength within a whole. The Kraken offers a playful image of our philosophy: individual strengths working together as one powerful whole.

It can be fierce—and joyful. The Kraken can compete wholeheartedly without losing humility, compassion, respect, or joy—formidable without becoming aggressive, and playful without losing its strength.

It is unmistakably ours. Unexpected and memorable, the Kraken gives students room to create traditions, artwork, cheers, and an identity that can grow with the school.

Most importantly, the Kraken captures what we hope athletics awakens in every student: strength, courage, imagination, belonging, and the discovery that we are capable of more together than alone.

Eligibility

Submission Requirements

Please submit your entry via the form below.

Files may be submitted as JPG, PNG, PDF, SVG, or other common digital formats. Original physical artwork is welcome; please submit a high-quality photograph or scan for initial consideration.

You have the opportunity to include a brief artist statement with your entry. Submissions require an assignment of artwork rights and release.

Submissions close on Tuesday, October 20, 2026.

Review & Selection Process

One submission may ultimately become the primary visual representation of the MCWS Kraken. Additional pieces may also be selected for special uses, including apparel, posters, athletics, publications, campus displays, or a commemorative collection.

The selection committee will consider:

Artistic strength and originality
Connection to the spirit and story of the MCWS Kraken
A sense of strength, imagination, movement, and school spirit
Distinctiveness and memorability
Potential to translate across different uses and formats
Ability to feel at home at Maine Coast Waldorf School for many years to come

Selected artwork may be digitized, simplified, resized, recolored, or otherwise adapted for use across different formats and applications. Whenever possible, initial adaptations will be developed in conversation with the artist.

The selection committee is made up of:

Representatives from the High School Cross Country, Nordic, and Ultimate teams
MCWS High School Art Faculty
MCWS Athletic Director
High School Athletics Booster Chair
Pedagogical Director
Director of Enrollment & Student Experience

The selection committee may choose one, several, or no submissions for further development. Selected artists will be notified in November, with a community reveal to follow.

Prizes & Recognition

The Fine Print

By submitting artwork, artists grant MCWS permission to display, reproduce, and share their submission in connection with the Kraken art call, selection process, exhibitions, school communications, and related publicity. If artwork is selected for ongoing use as part of the Maine Coast Kraken identity, ownership of the copyright and associated rights in the selected artwork will be transferred to Maine Coast Waldorf School as a condition of receiving the artist award or honorarium. MCWS will then have the right to reproduce, publish, display, adapt, digitize, simplify, resize, recolor, combine, and otherwise modify the artwork; use it on apparel, merchandise, signage, athletics materials, publications, websites, social media, and other school materials; and use or register the artwork, or adaptations of it, as part of the School’s trademarks or visual identity.

The School may use the artwork indefinitely and without additional compensation beyond the stated award or honorarium. Selected artists will be recognized as the original creators of their work whenever reasonably appropriate. Selection does not guarantee that artwork will be used, or used in any particular form, and MCWS may develop adaptations or variations of selected artwork over time.

All submissions must be the artist’s original work and must not reproduce, incorporate, or closely imitate copyrighted artwork, trademarks, logos, characters, stock imagery, or other material belonging to another person or organization. AI-generated artwork is not eligible. By submitting, the artist confirms that they created the work and have the right to submit it under these terms.

Artists under 18 must have the permission of a parent or legal guardian to participate. Parent or guardian consent and a signed artwork assignment will be required before a minor artist’s work is selected for ongoing use.

Creative Brief

The Kraken comes to us from the cold waters and maritime mythology of the North Atlantic—a mysterious, powerful creature of the deep. Rooted in Scandinavian seafaring lore, it feels at home here on the Maine coast: wild, resilient, a little unconventional, and deeply connected to the natural world. It is fierce without needing to be aggressive; ancient and mythical rather than literal; and rich with possibilities for artists and storytellers. It’s time to discover what our Kraken looks like!

The Kraken might be fierce, mysterious, playful, elegant, ancient, wild, or somewhere in between. It could emerge from waves, exist simply as a beautifully drawn creature, or take a form none of us has imagined yet.

Our Kraken should feel spirited, strong, distinctive, connected to the coast, imaginative, enduring, and unmistakably MCWS. Please don’t feel constrained by what a traditional school mascot or sports logo is “supposed” to look like.

Submissions might be an illustration, drawing, painting, print, graphic design, hand-lettered image, digital artwork, or another two-dimensional medium that can ultimately be reproduced.

All artwork must be original and created by the submitting artist. AI-generated artwork is not eligible. Digital tools are welcome, but the creative work must be the artist's own.

Submit Your Artwork

Required

Namerequired

First Name

Last Name

Emailrequired

Phonerequired

Connection to Maine Coast Waldorf Schoolrequired

Title of Work (if applicable)

A brief artist statement (optional)

File Uploadrequired

Attach up to 1 file with a maximum size of 20MB

No file chosen

Allowed file types: Image, Document

Your submission is not complete until hit the blue "Submit" button below. Please continue scrolling to acknowledge the agreement below and submit your work.

Maine Coast Kraken Artwork Assignment & Release

This Artwork Assignment & Release (“Agreement”) is entered into between Maine Coast Waldorf School (“MCWS” or “the School”) and the artist identified in connection with artwork selected through The Maine Coast Kraken: A Call for Art.

Assignment of Artwork Rights

In consideration of the artist award or honorarium provided by Maine Coast Waldorf School, the Artist hereby assigns to MCWS all copyright and associated intellectual property rights the Artist holds in the selected artwork identified above.

This assignment gives MCWS the exclusive and perpetual right to use, reproduce, publish, display, distribute, adapt, digitize, simplify, resize, recolor, combine, modify, and create derivative works from the artwork in any medium or format.

MCWS may use the artwork and adaptations of it in connection with the Maine Coast Kraken, MCWS athletics, school spirit, apparel and merchandise, signage, publications, advertising, fundraising, websites, social media, school communications, and other educational, promotional, institutional, or commercial purposes.

MCWS may also incorporate the artwork or adaptations of it into the School’s visual identity and may seek trademark or other intellectual property protection for the artwork, name, designs, or related marks.

No additional permission or compensation will be required for future uses or adaptations of the artwork.

Artist Recognition

The Artist will remain recognized as the original creator of the selected artwork whenever attribution is reasonably appropriate. Transfer of copyright ownership does not change the historical fact that the Artist created the original work.

MCWS may adapt or develop the artwork over time and is not required to obtain the Artist’s approval for future modifications, applications, or uses.

Artist Representations

By signing this Agreement, the Artist confirms that:

The artwork is the Artist’s original creation.
The artwork was not generated using generative artificial intelligence.
The artwork does not knowingly copy, incorporate, or infringe upon another person’s copyrighted artwork, trademark, logo, character, or other protected material.
The Artist has the right to enter into this Agreement and transfer these rights to MCWS.
No other person or organization owns or has been granted rights in the artwork that would conflict with the rights granted to MCWS through this Agreement.

Award

In consideration for this assignment, the Artist will receive: Artist Award/Honorarium: $500

Please identify the artist's age range.required

Artist is 18 years or older

Artist is younger than 18 years

Check to Acknowledgerequired

By electronically signing below, the Artist acknowledges that they have read and understood this Agreement and voluntarily assign the rights described above to Maine Coast Waldorf School.

Artist's Electronic Signaturerequired

For Artists Under 18 Yearsrequired

I am the parent or legal guardian of the Artist named above. I have reviewed this Agreement, consent to the Artist’s participation, and approve the assignment of the rights described above to Maine Coast Waldorf School.

Parent/Guardian's Electronic Signaturerequired

Please complete the security verification below.

Welcome