Drawing the Lines 2010

Do you like to speak in pictures? Have you got something to say about Australian politics? If so, draw yourself into the fun!

We invite Australian school students from Years 4 through 12 to enter our political cartooning competition, 'Drawing the Lines'. The contest coincides with the Museum's annual exhibition Behind the Lines: The Year's Best Cartoons. Entries that win a prize in the competition will be displayed alongside the exhibition, and tour with it around Australia.

This year, our intent is to share and showcase your entries as they arrive, through our Flickr stream and our blog. And we will do that as soon as we can – after the federal election.

What does the federal election have to do with the cartooning competition? When Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced the election, the caretaker conventions came into effect. These conventions mean that all Australian government agencies, including the Museum, should avoid publishing political material – like your cartoons! So we'll hold on to your cartoons for the first few weeks. But don't let that delay your entry! We'll start publicising your cartoons as soon as we can.

A first, second and third prize will be awarded in each of the three categories:

• Years 4–6
• Years 7–9
• Years 10–12

Winners in each category will have their work exhibited as part of Behind the Lines: The Year's Best Cartoons and featured on the Museum's website.

Prizes will be awarded as part of the exhibition launch – first prize winners will be flown to Canberra for the occasion.

First prize in each category

• iPad 16GB – for reading, writing, listening, watching and playing in new ways!
• $50 iTunes voucher – for music, movies or apps
• $500 for your school
• A trip for two (you and a parent/guardian) to Canberra, including return airfares and one night's accommodation

Second prize in each category

• iPod Touch 32GB – it's a pocket computer, iPod and gaming device all in one
• $30 iTunes voucher – for music, movies or apps

Third prize in each category

• iPod Nano 8GB, with video recorder, radio and pedometer
• $30 iTunes voucher – for music or movies

You have until Friday 22 October to get your entry in . The first step is, of course, to draw a cartoon. You may draw on screen or on A4 paper, but your cartoon must address a recent political issue of national significance. For resources on cartooning, see the Related links at the bottom of this page.

This year, we invite you to enter online . This means that you'll need to have a digital copy of your cartoon. If it is hand-drawn, you can take a photograph and save it as a JPG, JPEG, GIF or PNG. Or if it was 'born-digital', ie, you drew it on-screen, you probably already have a copy of one of those formats.

If you are unable to use the online entry form , or to digitise your entry, you may download, print and complete the PDF entry form (77 kb) and mail it, along with your cartoon, to us at:

Drawing the Lines competition
Education section
National Museum of Australia
GPO Box 1901
Canberra ACT 2601

If you win a prize, we will contact you to request your original drawing, or (in the case of born-digital work) a high-quality A4 print. That way, we can include your work in our touring exhibition, Behind the Lines.

Our judge for Drawing the Lines is prominent Australian political cartoonist, David Pope, aka Heinrich Hinze.

What makes a good cartoon?

We like cartoons that:

• make an interesting political comment
• communicate visually – not only through words
• demonstrate artistic skill and aesthetic qualities

See the links below for units of work you might use to learn more about political cartooning.

What about social impact?

Since the entries will also be live in Flickr, it will be possible to share, tag and comment on each cartoon. All this suggests a fourth criterion for judging the merit of a cartoon – its social impact. So we will also be looking for entries that spread through social networks, generate relevant, interesting discussion, and attract lots of 'likes' and mentions on Facebook and Twitter.