Advancement - All schools are divided into Regionals according to the first letter of your code. E = East, C = Central, W = West. Schools may be moved to a different Regional to balance the number of competing schools in each Regional. Judges will score and compare submissions only against other submissions from their own Region.

Scoring - Judges will review the submissions for quality, creativity, and adherence to the prompt and give each submission a score of 1-5 with 5 being the highest score and 1 being the lowest score. A maximum of two 5's will be awarded in each Region. Each other score (1, 2, 3, 4) must be awarded at least once.

Submitting Works Picture and Code - Schools take a picture of each work and submit this picture to NCASA. Digital works (Digital Media, Photography) may submit the actual file and not a picture of the printed file. Picture guidelines are in our Competition Rules. The photography permission form is not required but students must have permission from people displayed in photographs. Each submitted picture should be saved as a file using a unique Student Code as shown below:

  • See Section H in rules linked here for specifics on submission guidelines. Three pictures are required for Digital Media and photographs must include a ruler or measuring device. 
  • First letter of Student Code is H for high school, M for middle school, or E for elementary school
  • Second letters describe the category as shown: Painting - PA, Drawing - DR, Photography - PH, Collage - CO, Digital Media - DM, Mixed Media - MM, Printmaking - PR, Sculpture - SC.
  • The suffix is your school code which will be provided by email to schools. Examples of this suffix are E1, C4, and W5. The suffix will be the same for all submissions from your school.
  • Student Code Examples:
  • HPH-E4
  • MMM-C4
  • EPA-C8
  • HDM-W4
  • MPA-E4
  • ESC-W3
  • Contact me if you are uncertain of the eight codes which will be used by your school.

Submitting Works Method - Schools may choose one of the following two methods to submit their works to NCASA:

  1. (Preferred method) Email - You may email submissions to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. as an attachment. You may send multiple emails if necessary.
  2. Google Drive - schools may use Google Drive to share their files with NCASA using the This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. email address. Make sure these are shared in such a way that will allow me to share them with our judges.

Schools must also return the roster to show all participating students and their category. Add your school name as the suffix to the roster file name to differentiate it from other rosters. The roster is also due on the submission due date.