Since 1998, Indiana Connection and participating Indiana electric cooperatives have held an annual art contest for Indiana students in grades kindergarten through 12. The winning works from each grade are then used to illustrate the Cooperative Calendar of Student Art that participating REMCs/RECs have distributed.
Each of the numbered grades is given the corresponding month of the year to illustrate: 12 grades, 12 months. It’s a perfect combination. Kindergartners are assigned the cover each year. The calendar is localized by the participating cooperatives to provide important information to consumers such as billing and annual meeting dates, phone numbers and electrical safety and energy efficiency information. The calendar helps co-ops meet one of the 7 cooperative principles — member information and education. In addition, by being illustrated with student art, the calendar helps fulfill another of the 7 principles — commitment to community. As more art programs in schools face budgetary challenges, Indiana Connection believes encouraging the arts — the imagination, self-expression and creativity these disciplines stimulate — is vital to society. Not only do the arts produce aesthetic beauty and entertainment for our hearts and souls, studies after study show the arts play a key role alongside science, technology, engineering and math in producing the minds of well-rounded, problem-solving, thoughtful individuals needed to lead and run our modern, high-tech world.
2025 Cooperative Calendar of Student Art Contest — ENTRIES CLOSED!
Entries for the 2025 Cooperative Calendar of Student Art are now CLOSED! Keep watching for details regarding the 2026 contest and how to enter later this year.
Congratulations to our 2024 Cooperative Calendar of Student Art Contest Winners!
Here are the students who will be gracing the pages of our 26th annual Cooperative Calendar of Student Art in 2024.
Grade Division winners ($200)
Kindergarten — Serenity White, Medora
First Grade — Hadley Wagner, Jasper
Second Grade — Rayna Pryor, Flora
Third Grade — Trinity Messmer, Jasper
Fourth Grade — Flynn Cissell, Borden
Fifth Grade — Kaylin Fuller, Charlestown
Sixth Grade — Chloe Holtke, Seymour
Seventh Grade — Nandini Kondhare, Columbus
Eighth Grade — Jenna Merli, Union Mills
Ninth Grade — Cate Deckena, South Whitley
10th Grade — Riley Aebersold, New Albany
11th Grade — Justine Ocken, South Whitley
12th Grade — Lindsey Todd, Craigville
Best of Show — Justine Ocken (additional $100)
Honorable Mention winners ($75)
Kindergarten — Benton Welp, Jasper
First Grade — Kinze Campbell, Union Mills
Second Grade — Arabella White, Medora
Third Grade — Naiya Hood, Brazil
Fourth Grade — Lily Fouts, Seymour
Fifth Grade — Dakota Moon, Brazil
Sixth Grade — McKenzie Haehl, Shelbyville
Seventh Grade — Kyla Krouse, Fort Wayne
Eighth Grade — Viola Reeves, Monrovia
Ninth Grade — Makenna Krause, South Whitley
10th Grade — Taylor Patton, Paoli
11th Grade — Justine Ocken, South Whitley
12th Grade — Elizabeth Mattos, Kendallville
We will also be posting the artwork in our Gallery of Student Art as soon as possible.