How to Enter:
1- Read our 2024 - 2025 Guidelines
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DOWNLOAD the Full 2024-2025 Guidelines HERE!
WHO IS ELIGIBLE: Sculptures are created by K-12 student(s) attending a public, charter, private or home school within Hillsborough County. |
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MATERIALS for the DooDad:
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2- Research the theme!
The theme for the 2024-2025 Competition is Water. As a peninsula surrounded by the ocean and gulf, with beaches, bays and estuaries, covered with lakes, rivers, streams, springs and swamps, water defines Florida. Throughout most of its history Florida was under water. Skeletons of coral, shellfish, and fish piled up on the sea floor over millions of years to create the foundation of the landscape of the peninsula.
The population of Florida is dependent on the availability of freshwater from surface water and the aquafer. Water impacts our day-to-day life – too much water, too little, droughts, deluges and hurricanes.
The plant and animal life in the state has evolved and adapted to thrive on water conditions. A large part of the state is covered by the Everglades, which is a unique subtropical hydrological system defined by the flow and interaction of water, and resulting in a biodiversity treasure. Water is integral to activities and the economy of the state. Many industries are dependent on water – agriculture, transportation, tourism, to name a few. Water is a finite resource. Changes in the types of water (fresh/ salt) and the temperature of water impact the environment and all the related plants and animals dependent on the water.
The theme of Water provides students with an almost infinite variety of subjects for their sculptures. Within this theme, students could explore:
- Animals and plants that live in or around water
- Activities associated with water (sailing, swimming, fishing, etc.)
- Water as a finite resource
- Fresh/ salt water, changes in water temperature and how changes impact the environment
- Water and weather — rain, hurricanes, etc.
Any sculpture involving water will fit the guidelines of the competition. However, to spotlight the impact changes in the environment have on water, special awards will be given for sculptures that showcase the impact or interaction of the environment and climate change on water.
Doodads
The Competition Doodads engage student research on how our day-to-day activities impact the environment. This year’s Doodads focus on two major sources of both resource consumption and waste – Household Cardboard and Fabric.
Household Cardboard
Approximately 165 billion cardboard boxes are made in the United States annually. Yet, only about 75 percent of them are recycled. The remaining 4.3 billion are thrown into the landfill.
The average household interacts with and discards about13 thousand pieces of cardboard per day. Most of this comes in the form of food cartons and boxes. About thirty to forty percent of landfills are made up of paper. In some cases, that’s almost half of the total landfill.
21.2 billion packages were shipped in the U.S. in 2022; projections indicate that as many as 32.0 billion packages will ship in 2022. U.S. parcels shipped at a rate of 64 packages per person. The average American household received 162 packages in 2022. From 2017 to 2022, the number of packages the average American received in a year increased by 73%. All of these packages mean lots of cardboard boxes, made from trees. Each tree harvested yields 390 trees.
Three billion trees every year are made into paper packaging. This breaks down to:
- 250,000,000 trees cut down every month
- 342,465 trees cut down every hour
- 95 trees cut down every second
CARDBOARD RECYCLING VIA ‘HOW STUFF WORKS’
HOW MANY PACKAGES ARE SHIPPED?
Fabric
Only fabric made from organic sources (cotton, linen, bamboo, etc.) is biodegradable. Fabric made from synthetic sources can take up to 200 years to decompose in landfills
What percentage of clothes are actually worn? A study conducted in 2022 showed that the average person only wears 20% of their clothing.
These days, the average American has about 70 pounds of clothes annually to donate or throw away, with the vast majority (around 85 percent) of those old clothes ending up in landfills. An estimated 11.3 million tons of textile waste end up in U.S. landfills yearly. This equates to an 81.5 pounds of textile waste per person per year.
3- Make Your DooDad!
| ACCEPTED | NOT ACCEPTED |
| One or more pieces of FABRIC and one or more empty household cardboard boxes, at least one must be a delivery box must be used. Other boxes can include food boxes or other cardboard box packaging. | No provided fabric and/or household cardboard delivery box was used to create the sculpture. |
| Some part of the fabric and household cardboard box must remain visible, and sculpture must be sturdy and stable. | No part of fabric and/or household cardboard box remains visible, and/or the sculpture falls apart or repeatedly falls over. |
| Other materials may be used, but MOST of sculpture must be constructed with fabric and empty household cardboard box(s). | Only a small part of sculpture is created with fabric and/or empty household cardboard delivery box. |
| The sculpture must be freestanding or be able to be hung from the ceiling. Footprint of freestanding sculptures must be no more than 30” deep by 36” wide by 36” tall. Freestanding sculptures may be placed on a table or the floor. Freestanding sculptures must be no more than 50 lbs. Hanging sculptures must have an armature that can connect to framing wire to be hung from the ceiling and must be no more than 25 lbs. | Sculptures that fail to meet accepted size and weight guidelines, and/or if designed to hang, provides no suitable armature devise from which to connect framing wire to suspend from ceiling. |
| Individual or group work may be submitted, and MAJORITY of design and construction must be completed by student(s). | Majority of design and construction of sculpture completed by teacher or other adult(s). |
| Sculpture must relate to the theme and respects the adopted Copyright & Plagiarism guidelines*. | Sculpture NOT relate to theme and/or disrespects adopted Copyright & Plagiarism guidelines*. |
| Artist statement must answer 1) How does your sculpture represent your research about the theme? and/or 2) How has your thinking changed about the connection between creating with unconventional art materials and the environment? | Artist statement doesn’t address either question, and/or only explains the process and procedures used to create the sculpture. |
| Entries and video artist statements must be uploaded using Doodad’s online competition platform. | Online entry form was NOT completed for a submitted sculpture. |
4- Photograph your DooDad:
Watch the video below or click this link to read more about photographing your DooDad! We are excitied to see what you’ve made!
5- Write & Record an Artists statement-
The DooDad Competition went online for judging in 2022. Because of this, it is important to showcase your work with quality photos and a video! Take a peek at last years winning videos for a good idea of what’s needed: 2023 -2024 Videos!
For this years competition you will need to provide 4 photos, a written Artists Statement and a video Artists Statement. Read the directions below and then watch previous winners videos for inspiration in creating your Artist’s Statement video.
Let’s write your Artist Statement:
For the DooDad competition your written Artist Statement MUST answer:
1) How your sculpture represents your research about the theme? and/or
2) How has your thinking changed about the connection between creating with unconventional art materials and the environment?
Let’s record your Artist Statement:
Create a short video, no more than 1 minute long, discussing your DooDad. Tell us about your process, about how you depicted WATER, and about the materials you used when creating you DooDad.
The video should be no longer than 1 minute.
MUST BE Shot in a HORIZONTAL format.
Files must be in one of the following formats, and must include the filename extension : .mov .mp4 .mpg .mpeg .avi .wmv
6- Have your Students + Parents sign Release Forms
All student participants in the Annual Repurposed Doodad Sculpture Competition must have a signed release form from their parents or guardians before their sculptures can be officially entered. This ensures we have the necessary permissions to showcase their creative work. Thank you for your cooperation in making this event a success!
Click HERE to download the form.
And Finally: Enter your DooDad by January 10th!
You’ve created a beautiful DooDad and are ready to enter the competition. Click the ENTER YOUR DOODAD link to share your artistic vision with us! You can revisit the tabs above for additional suggestions on how to photograph your DooDad, create your Video Artist Statement, sign up for a Gmail account, and finally enter your DooDad in the competition!