The Louisiana Shrimp & Petroleum Festival recently announced its annual poster contest open to artists throughout the state. The winning design will be used for the official 2013 poster.

A $500 cash award will be presented to the winning artist. Deadline for submission is April 12.

The Louisiana Shrimp & Petroleum Festival, Louisiana’s oldest chartered harvest festival, will be held Labor Day weekend.

Guidelines for poster artwork are:

—The theme of the poster must equally reflect the history or present-day operation of both the shrimping and petroleum industries or festival activities.

—The image size must be 16 inches by 20 inches with a white border of 2 inches surrounding the image. Therefore, the overall paper size will be 20 inches wide and 24 inches high.

—The poster must be designed vertically or portrait. Horizontal or landscape will be disqualified.

—In the placement of lettering on the poster, do not place lettering flush with the white border. Allow at least ½” inside the border so that matting can be added when framing.

—Design the poster so the personal signature and numbering can be done either on the poster background or the white border around the poster when printed. The decision as to where to sign will then be made after printing.

—The original must be on smooth illustration board, Blanco board or a good grade of art paper suitable for quality reproduction by the printer. Do not design on a heavily pebbled surface.

—The artist must include in the design the following language: “Louisiana Shrimp & Petroleum Festival,” “Labor Day Weekend 2013” and “Morgan City –Berwick – Patterson”.

—Acknowledge that the selected design is the property of the festival, to be used by the festival as it deems appropriate.

The winning artist will be expected to take the original to the printer chosen by the festival for printing, return to the printer when first-run proofs are made and pick up final posters when completed by the printer. This is to ensure that the artist is satisfied with reproduction of his/her work. Travel expenses (gasoline and parking) will be reimbursed by the festival.

He or she also must sign and number 250 posters from 1 to 250; and sign an additional 250 with “Member Edition” indicated on each. All prints will then be returned to the festival office for distribution.

The winning artist will be invited to attend the annual Membership Cocktail Party, held in August at the Morgan City Petroleum Club. Attendance is not imperative. The poster will be unveiled at a date to be determined in the month of July.

Mail art work to P.O. Box 103, Morgan City, La. 70381; or bring it to the festival office at 715 Second St. in Morgan City.

Marketing of printed posters will be conducted by the festival, and the media will be present to both televise and photograph the unveiling.

For more information, call 985-385-0703, fax 985-384-4628 or email info@shrimp-petrofest.org.