The ICAW 2025 Poster Contest will start on September 1, 2024. The deadline to apply is November 1, 2024. The winning poster design will be announced in early December. Please read the poster contest requirements before entering the contest. Anyone age 14 and older can enter. This is an international contest. The entry form will be available on this page starting September 1st.
2024 Winning Poster
Each year, the International Compost Awareness Week Committee holds a poster contest to pick a design for the annual poster. There is always a new theme for ICAW, which is highlighted on the poster as well as that year’s dates. ICAW is always held the first full week of May. The dates for 2025 are May 4 – 10. The poster contest is open to anyone from anywhere in the world age 14 or older. The prize for winning the contest is $500.
Sustainable Communities Begin with Compost! is the ICAW theme for 2025. This theme was chosen with the goal of highlighting composting in all kinds of communities at any scale – from backyard home composter, to community composters, to large-scale facilities to all those who recognize the many benefits of using compost on our soils. As has been done for the past several years, the theme was chosen by all of the international partners who are part of the International Compost Alliance – making it truly an international theme. This year’s theme was inspired by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal #11 “Sustainable Cities and Communities: Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.”
From navigating skyscrapers to the far-reaching fields of corn or forested acres of rural America, composting is an essential element in developing a sustainable resources management plan for any community. Composting empowers communities to manage their own waste, create job opportunities and support healthy soils with locally-made compost. The theme highlights that when we're repurposing the food that would go into the landfill, we're creating fresh nutrients for the soil, which regenerates the earth and provides healthier food for everyone in the community. Composting is an action everyone can participate in, no matter the size of your home, garden, or community! Together, through the power of compost, we can create a more sustainable future for our communities!
Some benefits from organic recycling and compost use:
- Composting reduces methane emissions through aerobic managed decomposition providing for a more sustainable community.
- Composting lowers greenhouse gasses by improving carbon sequestration in the soil. Getting the carbon back into the soil serves as a “carbon bank,” helping to store carbon thereby removing it from the atmosphere.
- Compost provides essential nutrients for plants, promoting vibrant gardens and farms. Healthier soil leads to healthier, more nutritious food for our communities.
- Compost use increases the water-holding capacity of our soils; important as our communities are more and more often seeing drought and or intense rain events causing soil runoff and erosion.
- Community Gardens and Green Spaces: Compost plays a vital role in community gardens, fostering green spaces that provide fresh produce, recreational opportunities, and community gathering places.
Read the poster contest requirements here so you are ready when the contest starts. Important to know before you start your design, posters cannot be an AI generated design. Any AI designed posters will be eliminated.
Meet the ICAW 2024 Poster Contest Winner
This year’s winner of the ICAW 2024 Poster Contest is Ny Rindra Arison Malalaniaina. Out of hundreds and hundreds of entries from around the world, (entries were received from 76 different countries), her entry was chosen.
Ny Rindra lives in Antananarivo, Madagascar and is a student in chemical and industrial process engineering. Here is what she shared with us about why she entered the contest:
“Apart from my engineering studies, I am really passionate about design and drawing. I am also concerned about the environment. Your competition was an opportunity to show my commitment to planet earth. My poster was designed to promote the importance of composting and its benefits to the environment. The poster is very colorful, with a background representing nature. In the center, there is a compost bin where planet earth is located, with a champion decoration to properly mention "Nature's Climate Champion." These words indicate that composting is an important ally in the fight against climate change.”
The ICAW Committee would like to thank everyone who took the time to enter the contest and for working hard to support ICAW and the message in this year’s theme: COMPOST…Nature’s Climate Champion!
For questions, please send an email to info@compostfoundation.org