Our 2025-26 GEM Art Contest for Suicide Prevention
Will Launch on October 10th!
THANK YOU for your interest in our
GEM Art Contest for Suicide Prevention!
The contest is open to youth in Grades 6 - 12 in Greater Dayton (Montgomery, Miami, Warren, Clark, Darke, Preble, Butler, and Greene Counties).
You can view guidelines and awarded artwork from last year's contest on our Contest Info Page.
Deadline for this year's entries is
January 12, 2026.
The awards ceremony will be held on February 22, 2026.
GEM Writers' Kickback
We have a NEW opportunity this year for student writers to participate in our outreach in the community.
We will be hosting an event on November 20th that will be a relaxed and fun opportunity for students to create and share (if they want to) their writing inspired by the GEM artwork. We will have food, journals, artwork, prompts, and comfy couches and spaces for students to create messages of hope and resilience that will encourage others to keep going.
We will use the words to accompany the artwork in our outreach projects, such as the calendar and posters, and provide awards for students whose writing we use.
To register, email
Look for Our New Ad in RTA Buses!
GEM Project Dayton is excited to announce that we have a new PSA in all 200 RTA buses that serve Greater Dayton. The ad features award-winning GEM artwork created by Northmont freshman Mame for the 2024-25 GEM Art Contest and shares information about the 988 crisis line. This ad will help spread the word about this vital nationwide service available 24/7 for FREE, and we couldn't have created it without the support of our community! Thank you for helping us make Dayton a suicide-safer community!
Winning artwork of the 2024-25 GEM Art Contest for Suicide Prevention
Winners of the 2024-25 Art Contest for Suicide Prevention with the GEM Team Members at the awards ceremony on February 23, 2025
To view all photos from the 2024-25-GEM Awards Ceremony, please click here.
Thank you to Gene Peters for photographing our GEM Awards Ceremony each year.
Click here for the video of the 2024-25 GEM Awards Ceremony.
Thank you to Cameron Krause for filming our awards ceremony and
to Zach Hanna for creating the video of our awards ceremony this year.
Check Out
Our Calendar!
Our 2024-2026 JumpstART Conversations calendar features the GEM artwork from the first three years of our contest! You can view the calendar here.
These calenders were mailed to schools and organizations that work with youth and we look forward to printing our 2027-2028 calendar next year! If you would like to get one next fall, please send your mailing address to gemprojectdayton@gmail.com. If you would like to have your company logo on our calendar, go to our Support Us page for details.
Not an Artist?
You can still particpate!
We are actively looking for high school students from different schools in the Dayton area to join our GEM student leadership team. You can read about the responsibilities of student team leaders here. If you are interested, please reach out to us at gemprojectdayton@gmail.com. We would LOVE to have you.
Note: If you are an artist, you probably don't want to join our team because you would not be eligible to enter our contest.
© 2023 by GEM Project Dayton - a local nonprofit, dedicated to fighting suicide in the Dayton area.