The poster contest and exhibition, hosted each year by SVA Student Health and Counseling Services and SVA Student Affairs, is now on view.
Xingchen Ding (BFA Illustration), Beyond the Window, 2026. Ding’s poster won the Grand Prize in the 2025 HOPE Art Competition at SVA.
Each year, SVA Student Health and Counseling Services and SVA Student Affairs host the HOPE Art Competition, a call for posters that encourage everyone at the School of Visual Arts to take advantage of mental-health services and other life-saving tools. The competition is open to all undergraduate and graduate students at the College. Previous years’ themes include “Doing and Making Are Acts of Hope” (2025), “Better Together. Resilient Together” (2024), “Together, We Can Find HOPE” (2023), “Healing as a Community” (2021), Mr. Rogers quotes (2020), and a celebration of the Samaritans organization (2018), a counseling and suicide-prevention nonprofit.
This year’s theme is inspired by a quote from the late American artist and television host Bob Ross, “All it takes is just a little change of perspective, and you begin to see a whole new world.” Out of the 60 students who submitted entries this year, 17 were selected as finalists, and the Grand Prize and Fan Favorite winners were announced at last week’s reception for the exhibition, with prizes sponsored by the SVA Campus Store.
Congratulations to the Fan Favorite winner, BFA Illustration sophomore Seongho Lee, and Grand Prize winner, BFA Illustration junior Xingchen Ding!
Seongho Lee (BFA Illustration), Look Up, 2026. Lee’s poster won the Fan Favorite award in the 2026 HOPE Art Competition at SVA.
“A Little Change of Perspective” is on view through Wednesday, March 18, at the SVA Flatiron Windows, 133/141 West 21st Street, and visible from the sidewalk.
Many thanks to all who submitted work for this year’s HOPE Art Competition. For more information on SVA Student Health and Counseling Services and 24/7 mental-health resources, click here.
