Please join the Iditarod Education Department in congratulating this year’s Trail Mail art contest winner, Teagan R., age 12.  Teagan’s art was selected by artists Jon Van Zyle and Jona Van Zyle based on artistic design, reflection of the theme “Under the Burled Arch in Nome”, and how accurately the design represents the Iditarod and mushing. 

Over 200 envelopes will be printed with Teagan’s design and carried down the Iditarod Trail in mushers’ sleds to Nome where they will be collected and put into the mail stream to the classrooms that participate in the Trail Mail project.

Teagan R., age 12, 2025 Education Trail Mail Design Contest Winner

It’s time to secure your class’s part in history by sending a piece of mail down the trail in an Iditarod musher sled!  Your piece will be put in one of the 2025 student designed cachets, placed securely in a musher’s sled, and mailed back to you from Nome!

Purchase your spot on a sled for just $10 at this link:  2025 Trail Mail Sales

Limit to one spot per order/classroom. You must list a separate teacher and class with a separate email for each envelope. Do not purchase multiple envelopes under one teacher’s name and please don’t order spots for teachers that are unaware of their participation, unable or uninterested in participating.  This just takes a place away from an educator that wishes to use the project in a meaningful way and adds extra work on the coordinator to track down projects from teachers that don’t really want to participate.

Once your purchase is complete, you will be emailed specific directions about how to send your piece of mail to be included. Basically, you will be sending one 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of regular paper down the trail. What is on your paper is totally up to you! Your students could write a poem or story, they could create a piece of artwork, they could all include their signatures… Whatever you and your students decide.

Once your piece of mail is received by our program coordinator, it will be put into an Educational Trail Mail envelope that will feature this year’s winning student art piece.

Your filled cachet will be taken to the Musher Meeting in Anchorage that is held on the Thursday before the race. Your musher will sign the envelope and it will be collected back by our volunteers who will have it packaged for safe travels down the trail.

Your mail will next be delivered to your musher at the race restart on Willow Lake and will be packed safely on his or her sled for its journey to Nome. Once it arrives under the Burled Arch, your letter will be postmarked in Nome and put into the mail stream to make its way back to you!  

Please note: We are unable to honor requests for specific mushers to carry an envelope. We are also not responsible for mail being lost in the US mail system.

Each musher is limited to carrying Trail Mail from 4 classes, so be sure to take advantage of this opportunity soon! Sales are limited to one piece of mail per class or homeschool family. If you have questions, please email trailmail@iditarod.com