If you’re an HBCU student with a sketchbook full of ideas, this one’s for you. On Nov. 11, Black Girl Vitamins (BGV), the Black-owned wellness brand focused on closing the health equity gap for Black women, just launched “Our Future of Wellness,” an art contest for HBCU students.
Black Girl Vitamins is a Black-owned, Chicago-based wellness brand that makes supplements designed around Black women’s specific nutritional needs. Co-founder Maxine Ugwu started the company after realizing how often everyday women’s vitamins fail to account for the deficiencies Black women are more likely to face. Today, the brand’s line ranges from multivitamins and collagen to products for PCOS, menopause, and vaginal health.
The brand’s mission is built on the idea that when Black women are healthy, their communities are too. BGV points out that most over-the-counter women’s vitamins follow general guidelines that often overlook Black women’s unique health and dietary needs, and it creates its formulas to fill that gap.
The contest invites HBCU student artists to design a limited-edition bundle box celebrating Black identity, culture, and wellness for BGV’s Black History Month campaign. It builds on the brand’s 2026 “Black Art is Wellness” campaign, which put original designs from Black artists on limited-edition product labels. And this year, BGV is putting HBCU talent at the centre of its Black History Month campaign, giving emerging creatives another platform to share what Black identity, culture and wellness mean to them.
Three winners will get scholarships and see their artwork printed on special-edition bundle boxes that ship to customers during Black History Month. If you’re an aspiring artist, it’s a chance to get your work seen by a national audience and delivered straight to people’s doorsteps.
It’s also not BGV’s first time working with HBCUs. The brand has brought health education to HBCU campuses through its Homecoming of Health Tour, and it runs a scholarship that gives monthly funding for two years to Black women studying healthcare at HBCUs.
How to apply:
Three winning designs will be chosen. Each winner will receive a scholarship, and their artwork will be printed on the special-edition bundle boxes that customers receive with their purchases during February. Winners will also be spotlighted across BGV’s platforms throughout Black History Month.
The contest is open to current HBCU student artists, and applications close Monday, Nov. 16, at 11:59 p.m. CST. You can find the full details and the application form on BGV’s contest page. If you’re an HBCU artist, or know one, now’s the time to submit!