Grand Valley State University students are invited to participate in the Art2Park Permit Contest by submitting their creative parking sticker designs for the 2015-2016 academic school year. Students can submit their designs from Feb. 16-20. The first round of voting is from March 6-19, and the final top-10 voting round is from March 23-27.

Paige Melick, the Art2Park intern, said whoever wins the contest will receive a parking pass for next year, the current cost of which is $360 for the entire year.

Since the contest’s inception in 2012, interns like Melick have run the parking permit design. Before Art2Park, Parking Systems Coordinator Lisa Garringer created the permit.

Chief of Police Renee Freeman said it was created as an education contest and as a way to interact with the community.

“It really was created as a contest to educate people about our process,” Freeman said. “It provided an opportunity to educate people about the parking system. We felt like giving ownership to it for the community.”

The contest is campus-wide and GVSU students, faculty and staff choose the winners.

Students should keep in mind that the parking pass itself has guidelines for barcode, size and trademark and logo standards. A full list of guidelines is available on the Art2Park website. Students are also required to provide a short biography.

In order to qualify, Melick said students have to be enrolled for winter semester and in good academic standing. Submission is free.

“It starts with voting – students and faculty and staff can vote,” Melick said. “They have a say in it. It has two rounds of voting: one for the top ten and one for the winning design.”

Last year there were a total of 26 entries. GVSU student Halston Raddatz’s entry won for the 2014-2015 school year, Melick said.

“What I have created this year is a PowerPoint template that already has the colors and the size and has all the requirements,” Melick said. “It is all in one place at once, all you have to do is take the one PowerPoint slide and create the permit. Once you have one done you have to change the colors. It really doesn’t take that long, as long as you have a general of what you would like.”

Freeman added that students are encouraged to be creative with their designs.

For more information about the Art2Park contest, visit www.gvsu.edu/parking, or find them on Twitter @GVSUArt2Park or on Facebook at GVSUArt2Park.