- Georgia History Festival

The Rule of Law in Georgia’s History

Through the Georgia Day art contests, students have the opportunity to investigate the role that an independent judiciary has historically played at the local, state, and federal levels. Using a variety of artistic media, students will illustrate lawmakers, lawbreakers, judges, and interesting and important court cases throughout Georgia’s history.

Students are encouraged to use their creativity to demonstrate their knowledge of the theme through art. Some ideas to consider:

Highlight important attorneys, judges, or politicians that impacted the judiciary throughout the history of Georgia (ex. Governors; Georgia’s signers of the Constitution; Leah Ward Sears; Griffin Bell; Civil Rights leaders who influenced policy changes; etc.).
Highlight important court cases (ex. Worcester v. Georgia, Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United States, Leo M. Frank v. The State of Georgia, The United States v. Schooner Wanderer and Cargo, etc.).
Highlight important people or events from or in Georgia who shaped the judiciary or challenged the public’s perception of the law (ex. James Oglethorpe; Governor John M. Slayton; Primus King; Civil Rights leaders such as Martin Luther King, Jr., Lonnie King, Julian Bond, and John Lewis; Helen Mankin; Grace Towns Hamilton; Charlayne Hunter Gault; local participants in Civil Rights activities such as sit-ins and wade-ins; etc.).

Students are invited to submit an original creation telling the story of an important or influential element of the judiciary in Georgia.

For additional information, ideas, and inspiration, refer to the digital resources available at https://georgiahistoryfestival.org/educators/.

Georgia Day Statewide Art Contest Guidelines

The Georgia Day Statewide Student Art Contest is now open! Enter here.

Guidelines for Creation:

The art contest is open to any individual student attending public, private, parochial, online, or home school in Georgia in grades K-12.
Entry is free and limited to one submission per student.
Art entries should be original, student-made work that does not infringe on copyrighted material.
The Statewide Student Art Contest will accept online submissions representing:
- Drawings
- Paintings
- Digital works
- Fine art photography
- Mixed media
- Sculpture

Guidelines for Submission:

Art must be submitted via the GHS website:
- as a high-resolution image or PDF document
  - Artwork images must be in .jpg or .png format.
- with up to three images per entry
  - If multiple photos are submitted, consider choosing close-ups or different angles to show dimension and/or scale of the piece.
- with an additional photo of the artist with their art
  - This image is considered separate from the image entries.
- With an artist statement to include
  - A title for the piece
  - Why the student chose to focus on the particular person, event, or agency.
- By submitting images to GHS, the submitter transfers the right to use or reproduce images of banners and other works of art, in part or in full, including images with people, in GHS publications, and on all GHS social media platforms.
Deadline for submission is January 23, 2026.

Guidelines for Judging:

Student art will be evaluated on the following criteria:

Integration of the Georgia History Festival theme
Creativity of interpretation
Visual impact

For the individual contest, a first, second, and third place winner will be selected in each of the elementary, middle, and high school categories.

Art contest winners will be announced via social media on Georgia Day, February 12, 2026.

All winners will receive a Certificate of Appreciation for their artwork and will be recognized in GHS publications and on social media. All first-place winners in the individual category will
receive an art kit.

Related Educator Resources

The Georgia Historical Society has created a collection of classroom resources designed to enhance student understanding of the history and role of an independent judiciary in Georgia and America from the founding to today.

The resources include:

A Nation of Laws: Courts and the Foundation of Freedom Classroom Resource Bundle

Sponsored by