MARION STATION — Chesapeake Ghost Walks, a company that operates year-round ghost tours in ten Eastern Shore towns, is sponsoring a contest for new designs they will put on T-shirts and gear that they will sell on their tours, in retail outlets and use promotionally. Three winning designs will be chosen. Entries can be made between April 1, 2015 and April 21, 2015. Entrants must be at least fourteen years old to submit a design, and there is no cost to enter. Artists who submit the three winning designs will receive a cash award plus bragging rights for life.

A panel of judges specifically chosen by Chesapeake Ghost Walks for their familiarity with ghost lore, Eastern Shore culture and artistic design will judge the entries and select three winners. The first place winner will receive a $100 cash award and each of the of 2^nd and 3^rd places prizes (sponsored by Choptank Communications of Cambridge and and Aflac Team Sack of Dover, DE) will be a $75 cash award. The winning designs will be emblazoned on black T-shirts that will be worn by Chesapeake ghost Walk’s team of seven tour guides, and will also sold in stores. Additionally the designs will be printed on outdoor gear that will promote the the ghost tours and the books written by company owner Mindie Burgoyne.

Burgoyne says “Originally we were just going to print t-shirts with our logo on the front. Then we thought, who cares about our logo? Our fans love the ghost tours and the Eastern Shore, the Atlantic beaches and the idea of the old spirits of the Shore walking among us. They’d be much more likely to wear a T-shirt that shows a haunted site or a famous Eastern Shore ghost. So to find the perfect designs we put it out to our fans and our followers. They have way more creativity than do. We’ll save our logo on the back of the shirt.”

The cash prize is the first part of the award. Exposure is the second part. In 2013, Chesapeake Ghost Walks launched their business and did 29 tours in ten Eastern Shore towns. In 2014 they did 160 tours, built a team of seven tour guides. They also received media exposure from nearly every Eastern Shore media outlet as well as the Washington Post, the Philadelphia Inquirer and NPR’s WAMU affiliate in Washington DC. Their social media and newsletter subscribers exceed 40,000 and their YouTube channel is gaining momentum since they launched “Your Haunted Minute” where every Monday morning a 60 second on-site video of Burgoyne describing some Eastern Shore haunted is posted.  The company will share that exposure with the "Ghostly Graphic Design Contest" winners with a press event that will highlight both the design and the winning designers. They will also feature the designers on a permanent web page as well as postings through Facebook, Twitter and their monthly newsletter.

To enter the Ghostly Graphic Design Contest, entrants must fill out a registration form, which can be downloaded from their website, and submit it by email along with their design in .tif .ai .psd or .jpg format to tours@chesapeakeghostwalks.com. The deadline for submission is midnight on April 21, 2015. Winners will be announced on May 1, 2015 and awards will be issued within seven days.  Complete information and download link for registration form can be found at www.chesapeakeghostwalks.com/t-shirt-design-contest. For additional information please call the Ghost Phone at 443-735-0771.