Poster and Essay Contest

B.P.O.E. Lodge Drug Awareness Committee

2011-2012 Drug Awareness essay and poster contest

“I Choose Not to Use”

Entries must be received by state committee no later than March 1st, 2012.

Participants: Each lodge can change the rules to meet their individual needs. Ideally the poster contest should include younger children (grades 3-5) as the winning posters will be used to create the Elks Drug Awareness Coloring book. The Essay contest should also be geared toward older children (grades 6-8) as they can put more thought and effort into the essay. The only rock solid rule when planning these contests is that they are not intended for High School students.

Both posters and essays should be on 8.5 X 11 paper. Essays should also be limited to somewhere around 200 words.

What is needed beside the essay/poster? Each entry submitted to the state committee must have a completed hold harmless agreement attached to it. DO NOT SEND AN ENTRY WITHOUT A HOLD HARMLESS AGREEMENT. The hold harmless agreement can be found on the Kansas Elks website under the Drug Awareness tab.

Other information we will need includes
             1. Name of student
             2. Age of student
             3. Grade of student
             4. Schools name, location
             5. Lodges name & number

At the lodge level you are responsible for judging your entries and awarding prizes. You may then forward up to three essays and three posters to the state committee. Please keep in mind that while you can design your contests and your grading criteria here is what the grading will be based on at the state level.

             1. Is it based on the theme?
             2. Is it original and free of copyright infringements?
             3. Is it neat and grammatically correct with consideration given for the child’s age? (ie an eighth grader will                  have to meet a higher standard than a third grader)
             4. Does it contain an anti drug message that others can relate to?

The state committee will rank the essays and posters and determine first and second place for each. The state committee will award each first place winner with $100 and each second place winner with $50. This money will be given to the lodge to purchase prizes, gift certificates, savings bonds ect as they see fit based on the particular child’s circumstances.

Once judging is completed at the state level the first place essay will be entered in the Grand Lodge Contest where it will have the chance to win a $500 savings bond.

The first place poster will also be forwarded to the Grand Lodge contest where each entry is automatically published in the Elks Drug Awareness coloring book. In addition the Grand Lodge winning essay will be placed on the cover of the book and awarded a $500 savings bond.

These contests are an excellent way for us to expose the generous heart of Elkdom to our communities and help out the youth of our communities at the same time. I know it can be hard to get into the schools, but many of the sources of information that schools traditionally use like SAMHSA and other government agencies are facing unprecedented budget cuts and are simply not offering their materials any more, or if they are offering them they are no longer free. We have a chance to increase our involvement because through ENF grants we are still offering our services and materials free of charge.

Also there is nothing that says these contests must be done in the schools. Other youth organizations like camps, churches, scouts, ect provide an excellent venue for completing these contests. Each lodge is encouraged to create partnerships with other organizations to better serve the youth of our community. Nothing says we have to do it alone.

Please send all entries to the below address. Remember they must be received by March 1st, 2012 and MUST contain a completed hold harmless agreement.

Sincerely,

Lee Kibbee
15788 W 147th St
Olathe KS 66062
elk1785@yahoo.com
816-810-7050