You may not remember Steve Firth (BA ’14) by name, but mention him as “the kilt guy” and virtually everyone knows just whom you are talking about.

Firth, a native of Scotland and then undergraduate student at the U of L, created the Kilt-Up 4 Cancer campaign in 2013 and spent two years wearing a kilt to class (and everywhere else) with the goal of raising awareness of male-specific cancers. Firth is still on campus, now as a graduate student in the Department of Philosophy, and he’s come up with a new scheme – one that promises to live on in perpetuity.

The Countdown to 50 Tartan Design Competition is open to all faculty, staff, students and alumni of the University.

Firth’s brainchild is a competition to design the official U of L tartan in celebration of the University’s 50th anniversary.

“I want it to be a fun competition – but it’s also important, because the registering of a tartan is a profound event that comes with 1,500 years of cultural significance,” says Firth. “It’s also a very celebratory event, so I hope people will get excited about it and we’ll come up with something that represents the University well.”

The Countdown to 50 Tartan Design Competition is open to all faculty, staff, students and alumni of the University. The winner of the competition will have created a lasting piece of U of L history, with the top student-submitted entry earning a $350 prize from the Students’ Union and the top faculty, staff or alumni entry picking up a $150 prize from the University of Lethbridge Alumni Association.

“We are looking to celebrate our 50th anniversary in a number of ways and this contest is unique in that it will create a lasting legacy, a piece of institutional history,” says Dr. Chris Hosgood, dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences and co-Chair of the 50th Anniversary Planning Committee.

The logistics of creating a tartan are really quite simple. Contestants need only access the Croft Weaver tartan design program and begin designing. The only caveats are that the design must contain the U of L colours royal blue and yellow, no more than seven colours can be used and the thread count of the final design must be between 250 and 320.

All submissions for the Countdown to 50 Tartan Design Competition must be received by midnight on June 1, 2016, after which a judging panel will be convened and a winner announced.

For all the details, including contest rules, check out this competition web page.