Canadian Innovation Contests · Leadership 2027
Canadian Innovation Visual Art Contest
Show leadership through an original visual story: the courage to begin, the willingness to listen or the shared effort that brings people together. CIAC is an artwork submission, with time to develop an idea during the March window.
2027 theme · Leadership
The Art of Leading Together
What does leadership look like when it brings people together? The Art of Leading Together invites students to explore leadership through an original visual story. An artwork might reveal the courage to take the first step, the patience to listen, or the shared effort behind a community's achievement. Through composition, colour and detail, artists can show how one person's actions invite others to contribute and how a group creates change.
What the contest develops
Communicate an original idea through visual storytelling, using artistic choices to express meaning.
Find the right level
Eligibility and entry levels
Published levels: Grades 3–8; ask about other entries
Enter the category for your current school grade. Contact CKSTEM if your grade falls outside the published levels or you need help choosing a category. The contest instructions will confirm placement and any accommodations before entry.
What students do
Contest format
Artwork submission
Develop an original artwork and submit a high-quality PDF of digital artwork or a clear photograph of a physical drawing or painting. Published school levels are Grades 3/4, 5/6 and 7/8. Ask CKSTEM about younger or other-grade entries. Check the 2027 brief for permitted media, file specifications and the judging rubric.
Supervision and equipment
A school coordinator verifies and submits student work under the current contest rules. Ask CKSTEM about eligibility and entry availability before starting the final piece.
Curriculum connection
Aligned with the arts curriculum.
Education in the arts is essential to students' intellectual, social, physical and emotional growth. It enables them to create ideas and images that reflect, communicate, and change their views of the world.
The expectations in this contest align well with the arts curriculum and its expectations around the four central ideas of developing creativity, communicating, understanding culture and making connections.
This contest focuses on traditional arts of drawing, painting and sketching. Students will be generally evaluated on elements of line, shape and form, space, color, texture and value as well as various principles of art. The evaluation rubric provides further details on how work is evaluated and graded.
Design inspiration
A Nineteenth-Century Vision of the Year 2000.
In 1899, a group of French illustrators imagined what life might look like in the year 2000. Their artwork depicted scenes such as classrooms where students learn from machines, people gliding through cities on rollers, remote communication across vast distances, video telephones, and even aerial battles. Over a century later, many of these imaginative visions have become reality.
Let their creativity inspire yours. CIAC invites you to look at the world around you and imagine what's next — then bring that vision to life through art.
Help your child prepare
Explore the theme, practise the skills
Talk about leadership your child has observed and what made it meaningful. Invite them to sketch different compositions and explain their visual choices while keeping the idea and artwork their own.
Preparation idea
Preparation idea: sketch a scene in which people work together to improve something in their neighbourhood. Try showing who takes initiative and how others contribute without using a written slogan. This is an exploration exercise; the official artwork brief and permitted media will be supplied separately.
For teachers
Discuss examples of leadership and how artists communicate relationships and action. Support students' exploration of visual techniques while preserving independent ideas and original work; follow the published submission instructions.
The themes below describe the 2027 creative direction. Exact questions, grade-specific prompts, speech topics, artwork requirements and judging rubrics will be provided in the contest instructions. The preparation examples are ideas to explore, not official contest tasks.
Previous contest guide & practice resources (2026) · Explore CKSTEM’s learning resources
Achievement and participation
Awards and results
Gold, Silver, Bronze and Honors awards recognise achievement at each contest level, with participation certificates. Current ceremony and delivery arrangements will be shared separately.
The published CIC award framework includes Gold, Silver, Bronze and Honors recognition by contest level, with a participation certificate for each participant. Medal delivery and any Greater Toronto Area award-ceremony arrangements are communicated separately; CKSTEM does not cover international award shipping.
| Recognition | Placing |
|---|---|
| Gold | Top 1% |
| Silver | Top 2–3% |
| Bronze | Top 4–6% |
| Honors | Top 7–10% |
For families and school coordinators
Registration and fees
2027 school-entry and individual-entry arrangements to be announced. The current legacy page lists school registration only; do not assume individual entry is available.
School entry
The published school route has a minimum of five students. A teacher submits student artwork on the class’s behalf; schools receive a contest package with instructions. Confirm the current arrangements before preparing final submissions.
Individual entry
Contact CKSTEM to confirm availability: Visual Art has been offered through schools only in some years.
Email info@ckstem.org or send a contest enquiry. Dates and registration deadlines are listed below.
Plan your year
CIAC · Visual Art dates & deadlines
Dates below are for CKSTEM’s Canadian entries. ET means Toronto time; PT means Vancouver time. Use “Other time zones” for your location.
1 calendar entries
| Contest & round | Date & start time | Duration / format | Register by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Visual Art · SubmissionsOpen entry | Mar 1, 2027 – Mar 30, 2027 Submission window | Prepare and submit work within this window | Feb 15, 2027 |
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For a fixed-date contest, registration closes three weeks before the sitting. For a submission or sitting window, registration closes two weeks before it begins, except Math, Science, Computing and Writing: their confirmed deadline is March 15, 2027. Finals require qualification and a separate invitation or registration.
Download contest calendar (CSV) · Academic calendar and class schedule