County Council Reflections Program Details

The 2024-2025 Reflections theme: Accepting Imperfection


Special thanks and congratulations to Paige Opaska from Barbara Bush Middle School PTA in Texas who created this year's Reflections theme "Accepting Imperfection." Meet Paige and learn about her inspiration here.


In Reflections, interpretation of the theme is highly considered during the review process. To learn more about selection criteria in Reflections, visit the National PTA Reflections Awards webpage.

National PTA 2024—2025 Reflections Theme Contest 

The student who submits the winning entry will receive $100 prize from National PTA. Past themes and duplicate submissions are not considered. For a list of past themes: https://floridapta.org/reflections-theme-search/

2023 BLC Reflections.pptx

What Does Your Unit Need To Do?

Unit Credentials 

To avoid disqualification, verify with your President that all credentials (local, state and national dues, bylaws and insurance) are current. 

Current Bylaws 

Bylaws MUST be stamped on or after May 1. 

IRS Compliance 

As soon as your Unit's Tax Form 990 has been submitted to the IRS (deadline Nov 15th) a copy must be forwarded to Florida PTA 990@floridapta.org

Set Up Your Account 

All units must have a Reflections online account and are responsible for registering their own PTAs/PTSAs. Deadline is 02-01 

https://www.pta.org/home/programs/reflections/startyourprogram

Local Intake Deadline

Only the top three (3) winners in each category can be forwarded to the next level of competition.  Deadline for local submissions to BCCPTA/PTSA is 12-01-24. 

Sending In Entries 

Local Units submit ONLY their top three (3) winners per category to the County level Reflections Program at reflections@browardptsa.org  

A student can enter more than one category (ie dance, literature, music); however, the same student won’t be able to enter the same category multiple times (ie three dances or 3 literature). 


Entries should be sent with entry files labeled individually per student per category. 

Subject Line Example: 

StudentName-CategoryName-PieceName

(Subject:JaneDoe-Dance-Metamorphasis)


Entry and Attached Artwork Names - Should reflect this same format.


You can also send entries as a .zip file or batch email, where the subject line is your PTAUnitName - # of Entries.

Reflections Ceremony 

BCCPTA’s Reflections Ceremony will be held on

TBD. 

Keep Copies 

Keep copies of any artwork submitted. To minimize costs, Florida PTA may request that the original artowrk be submitted to their office for judging. If the artwork is selected for advancement to National PTA, Florida PTA will alert BCCPTA/PTSA, who will then inform the specific unit to forward the artwork to Florida PTA.

Every attempt will be made to return the items; BCCPTA/PTSA, Florida PTA and National PTA will not be held responsible for lost or damaged entries as per the entry form.

Student Entry Portal

Once your unit's entries have been submitted to BCCPTSA and you have received confirmation that they have been accepted, you must then upload your students' artwork through the National PTA Reflections Student Entry Portal It is a tool designed to access to the artwork at the state and national judging levels. The Reflections Chair should only submit the same entries that were sent to BCCPTSA in this Portal. Deadline to upload Excellence Artwork on the National PTA website is Feb 1​

Remember, only the top three (3) entries per category may be advanced by your Reflections Chair.  

What Do Student Artists Need To Do?

Fully Digital

ALL submissions to the BCCPTA/PTSSA Reflections Program will be in digital format.See details below for the digital formats being accepted in each category Entries should be sent to Reflections@BrowardPTSA.org

When Completing the Entry Form

DO NOT ABBREVIATE THE NAME OF THE SCHOOL OR THE PTA/PTSA UNIT. If your student advances, Florida PTA and National PTA will not have the time to determine the name of the school or unit. Student Entry Forms are available from your Local Unit Reflections Chair.

1 Art Piece Per Category

BCCPTA/PTSA will accept one (1) art piece per category per each student; for example, Jane Doe in third grade can enter artwork in photography, music, dance, etc.  A student can enter more than one category (ie dance, literature, music); however, the same student won’t be able to enter the same category multiple times (ie three dances or 3 literature). 

2D Art Dimensions (Visual Arts)

From 11 x 14 inches to 24 x 30 inches, (including matting).Digital Photos of 2D Artwork MUST be submitted in high resolution (300 dpi or Higher). USE JPG, SVG OR PNG FILE FORMATS.

Photography

Must be no smaller than 11 X 14 inches and no larger than 24 X 20 inches, including matting. Digital Photography must be a single file with Resolution of 300 dpi or Higher. Use JPEG files as they produce the best seamless picture. 

3d Art (Visual Arts)

MUST be submitted to BCCPTA /PTSA via three (3) DIGITAL photos showing a combination of different angle shots. USE JPG, SVG OR PNG FILE FORMATS. Photos MUST have 300 dpi Resolution or Higher. 

Literature

Literature MUST be hand-written or typed and in 2,000 words or less. MUST USE 8.5x11 PAPER (ONE-SIDED ONLY). SUBMISSIONS MUST BE IN THE FORM OF A PDF FILE. 

Special Artist Division is ONE Category

Meaning that it is not divided by age or traditional school grade level. Hence, students from Primary-12th grade will be judged as if in the same grade. See official rules for more details. 

Recording Lengths

Dance, Film and Music Artwork MUST be 1-5 minutes long and 1,000 MB (1,000 megabyte) in file size. Acceptable audio formats for Dance and Film include: AVI and MP4. Acceptable audio for Music includes MP3 and WAV. 

Keep Copies

Keep copies of any artwork submitted. To minimize costs, Florida PTA may request that the original artowrk be submitted to their office for judging. If the artwork is selected for advancement to National PTA, Florida PTA will alert BCCPTA/PTSA, who will then inform the specific unit to forward the artwork to Florida PTA.

Every attempt will be made to return the items; BCCPTA/PTSA, Florida PTA and National PTA will not be held responsible for lost or damaged entries as per the entry form.