Clean Air Marketing Contest Winners to be Announced at Community Art Day

Winners of the 2026 Utah High School Clean Air Marketing Contest will be announced at Utah State University’s Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art Community Art Day on Saturday, Feb. 14, at 10:30 a.m.

Clean air public service announcements (PSAs) created by this year’s 67 finalists will also be displayed at the museum as part of the event. After the awards ceremony, people of all ages can celebrate clean air with Shino Manabe, the Japanese cultural coordinator at USU’s Mehdi Heravi Center. Shino will guide participants through Japanese gift-wrapping traditions that are reusable and recyclable. All ages and skill levels are welcome to enjoy as part of Community Art Day.

The annual Utah High School Clean Air Marketing Contest was created in 2015 by professors Roslynn Brain McCann of USU Extension Sustainability and Edwin Stafford of the USU Jon M. Huntsman School of Business. The teen-designed PSAs combine art, science, and savvy marketing to encourage Utahns to help keep their air healthy through carpooling, using alternative transportation, limiting idling, and trip chaining (completing multiple errands at a time to limit unnecessary driving). 

This year’s entries include parodies on teen pop culture and famous paintings, references to how air pollution may impact the 2034 Utah Winter Olympics, and provocative messages about idling in the drive-thru and national parks.  The winning PSAs will be displayed for educational outreach across the state and on social media.

Of the 34 judges, five are celebrities who will select this year’s winners. They include The Salt Lake Tribune political cartoonist Pat Bagley, pop singer Jessica Baio, ABC4 News anchor Alyssa Royster, EcoChef Christopher Galarza, and USU President Brad Mortensen, who will also make brief remarks at the beginning of the event.  

The contest is intended to raise Utahns’ awareness of air quality issues by helping youth who are learning to drive understand the implications their new driving privilege can have on air pollution. It also helps them engage in ways to preserve air quality, especially during Utah’s polluted winter inversion season.

Stafford and McCann’s research finds that for many participants, the contest is the only formal education they receive about local air pollution. As they talk about local air pollution with their families and friends, the students then become air quality influencers in their own social networks.

McCann said contestants report becoming more committed to clean-air actions, and parents report being influenced by their teens to engage in clean-air actions. In turn, those parents encourage others in their own networks to be mindful about preventing air pollution.

“Our research shows that the contest is having an impact beyond the teens in educating Utahns about how to help clean up our air,” she said.

Over 1,000 teens from Utah and southern Idaho participated in the 2026 contest. Participating high schools include Logan, Ridgeline, Fast Forward, Green Canyon, Carbon, Whitehorse (Montezuma Creek), Westside, Preston, Grand County (Moab), and Granger (West Valley City).

“The entries get better and more thought-provoking every year,” Stafford said. “Creative competitions are important vehicles for educating youth as they spark the fun of learning, a competitive spirit, and self-discovery that you just can’t replicate in the classroom.” 

For their leadership of the contest, McCann and Stafford were recently recognized with the Carl M. Johnson Environmental Education Award by the Bridgerland Audubon Society.

Over $7,000 in cash and gift cards will be awarded to the winners, all donated by local businesses, organizations, and individuals.

The free event begins at 10:30 a.m. and includes refreshments. With the help of Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art’s education staff, those participating in the art activity after the awards can engage in Japanese gift-wrapping traditions that are reusable and recyclable.

Visit artmuseum.usu.edu to stay updated on museum events, and extension.usu.edu/cleanaircontest/ for more information about the contest and to view the winning artwork.