World Humanist Day card competition for young creatives

There are three strands to the competition, for ages 14-18, 11-13, and those 10 and under. The competition is open to all forms of art – including symbolism, photography, figurative drawings, illustrations, and typographical art – provided submissions are made as high-resolution JPEG (.jpg) files suitable for print.

To submit an entry to the competition, email your submission to card-competition@humanists.uk. Please include in your email your name, date of birth, location (town or city), and a contact email address for a named parent/guardian, along with the title and a description of your piece. As part of the email, you should also state that you agree to our competition Terms & Conditions.

About World Humanist Day

World Humanist Day is an annual event on 21 June each year when humanists around the world celebrate a global tradition of humanist thinking, spanning from the ancient world to the present day.

Humanists are non-religious people who shape their own lives in the here and now, because they believe it’s the only life they have. They make sense of the world through logic, reason, and evidence, and always seek to treat those around us with warmth, understanding, and respect.

What is humanism?

Throughout recorded history there have been non-religious people who have believed that this life is the only life we have, that the universe is a natural phenomenon with no supernatural side, and that we can live ethical and fulfilling lives on the basis of reason and humanity. They have trusted to the scientific method, evidence, and reason to discover truths about the universe and have placed human welfare and happiness at the centre of their ethical decision making.

Today, people who share these beliefs and values are called humanists and this combination of attitudes is called humanism. Many millions of people in the UK share this way of living and of looking at the world, but many of them have not heard the word ‘humanist’ and don’t realise that it describes what they believe. Our ‘How humanist are you?’ quiz should give you a quick idea of what a humanist thinks about life and death, right and wrong, and how a humanist decides what’s true.

You can learn more about humanism through the free resources on the Understanding Humanism website. If you live in England, Wales, or Scotland, your teacher should also be introducing you to humanism in at least some RE lessons.

Famous humanists

As a worldview and a way of thinking, humanism has inspired some of history’s greatest writers, artists, and scientists to expand the frontier of human achievements.

Famous humanists include scientists Albert Einstein, Charles Darwin, Rosalind Franklin, and Marie Curie; writers George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans), Percy Shelley, Virginia Woolf, and Philip Pullman; artists Vanessa Bell, Anish Kapoor, and Ray and Charles Eames; social reformers like Nye Bevan (founder of the NHS), Jennie Lee (creator of the Open University), and William Beveridge (father of the welfare state); well-known philosophers, such as Bertrand Russell and Simone de Beauvoir; and popular broadcasters like David Attenborough, Stephen Fry, Alice Roberts, Jim Al-Khalili, and Sandi Toksvig.

Who are Humanists UK?

Humanists UK is the national charity working on behalf of non-religious people. Powered by 100,000 members and supporters, we advance free thinking and promote humanism to create a tolerant society where rational thinking and kindness prevail. We provide ceremonies, pastoral care, education, and support services benefitting over a million people every year and our campaigns advance humanist thinking on ethical issues, human rights, and equal treatment for all.

Understanding Humanism is Humanists UK’s education service, which aims to introduce young people to humanism as a non-religious approach to life which can be studied as an example of a ‘non-religious worldview’.  It provides teachers with the resources necessary to teach accurate, high-quality lessons about humanism, and assists them with the development of their own subject knowledge. The Understanding Humanism website offers lesson plans and activities, as well as free school speakers who can work with teachers to broaden students’ understanding. Visit Understanding Humanism at understandinghumanists.uk.

Who came up with this competition?

This competition was conceived by Asad Abbas, a Humanists UK member based in South East London, who hopes it will lead to wider public recognition of the holiday.

The competition will close to new entries at 23:59 on 25 April. We will contact all winners and entrants as soon as winners have been picked.

What does high-resolution mean? How can I make sure my submission is accepted?

Competition artwork needs to come as a ‘high resolution’ image that is suitable for printing. This is because images printed on card or paper need to have more detail in them than images you post on the Internet, or else they will appear fuzzy or blurry when printed.

If you’re a photographer, you should use your camera’s most high-detail setting to get a high-resolution photo. If you’re drawing on paper, you may need a computer scanner to copy your drawing at its most high-detail setting. Ask a parent or guardian to help you. Your ICT teacher or art teacher may be able to show you how.

Whether you’re scanning artwork, taking a digital photo, or creating something from scratch in design software, we’re looking for images sent in the ‘JPEG’ (.jpg) file type. The file size will be relatively large if you’re producing a high-resolution image.

It won’t form part of the judging criteria, but our ideal technical specs are 300dpi (resolution) at a size of 1748×1240 pixels (A6 on a screen), plus 2mm bleed.

What happens if I win?

If you win, we’ll send you a prize! There is a grand prize on offer of up to £200 for the overall competition winner.

We’ll use the winning designs to promote World Humanist Day, including on social media and in print. We’ll credit the winning artist on the back cover of any printed cards sold on the Humanists UK website – where they will raise money for our charitable work, including things like humanist pastoral care to people in hospitals and our education resources.

If your school would like a quote about your competition entry for the school newsletter or website, we’ll be happy to provide one!

What happens to my entry if I don’t win?

We send all our materials to the Humanists UK historical archives at the Bishopsgate Centre and this competition will form part of that historical archive, too.

Other than that, all entries will be kept on file on our secure server – unless you request that we don’t keep them. Please see the competition Terms & Conditions, and our Privacy Policy for more information about how we handle data securely.

We may use some images when reporting on the competition itself or around World Humanist Day, but outside of that, we will not use them or publish them anywhere without your permission.

Will you contact me in future?

Signing up for this competition does not sign you up for Humanists UK communications, although we will contact you in relation to the competition or your entry when we need to. If you’d like to sign up as a supporter of Humanists UK and get our other emails that way, you can do that separately.