Artists Of All Ages Invited To Join Lawton’s Poster Competition

Lawton's annual International Festival is seeking local artists to design this year's festival poster! Every year the International Festival celebrates local artists by asking for poster submissions, and the winner's artwork represents the festival through official promotional items.

The International Festival Committee opened submissions for the Poster Design Competition for the 47th annual International Festival. The contest is open to local artists of all ages. Submissions are due by 5 p.m. Saturday, May 22.

This year's International Festival is set for September 25, 26 and 27 in Lawton's Elmer Thomas Park.

Art submissions should represent Lawton's cultural richness.

The prompt for the Poster Design competition states that art submissions should be "artistic response illustrating the cultural richness of our community celebrated by the International Festival."

Artists are also highly encouraged to incorporate flags into their designs, and states that if flags are included that flags representing the festival's founders should be included - the United States of America, the Philippines, Mexico, and the Comanche Nation.

Art submissions have the opportunity to win monetary prizes.

Entries will be divided into four divisions, including K-5, 6-8, 9-12 and adult. A winner will be selected from each division and will be awarded $50. The overall winner will be selected from the division winners. The overall winner will be awarded an additional $200, an International Festival t-shirt, and will be the featured design for the 2026 International Festival.

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The 2025 International Festival winner was a student at Eisenhower High School.

Last year, a design by Clair Trachte was the winner of the 2025 International Festival's Poster Design Contest. At the time, Tachte was a freshman at Eisenhower High School.

The artwork featured a buffalo prominently placed amongst the Oklahoma state emblem, a scissortail flycatcher, and a parade of people supporting flags of different nations, including the United States, Mexico, the Philippines and the Comanche Nation.

Contact the City of Lawton's Arts and Humanities Division for more information.

For more information about the International Festival's Poster Design Contest, contact the City of Lawton's Arts and Humanities Division at 580-581-3470/3471. More information about the contest and the festival is available online at swokarts.com.