Delaware Conservation Districts announce annual Conservation Poster Contest

The Kent, New Castle and Sussex conservation districts are sponsoring a conservation poster contest, with this year’s theme, Where Does Your Watershed? Posters will be judged in the following grade categories: K-1, 2-3, 4-6, 7-9, and 10-12. First-, second- and third-place winners in each category will receive a prize valued at $50, $25, and $15 respectively. Deadline for entries is Friday, Nov. 8.

The state-level contest is accepting computer-generated posters from students in grades 9-12 only. The same level of prizes will be awarded for this special category.

The annual conservation poster contest provides kindergarten through 12th-grade students an opportunity to convey their thoughts about soil, water and related natural resource issues through art. It also highlights the educational outreach efforts of conservation districts and their state associations, auxiliaries and agencies. The contest follows the annual Stewardship theme as sponsored by the National Association of Conservation Districts.

This year’s theme, Where Does Your Watershed, reaffirms people's connection to the environment and gets them thinking about what they can do to help keep pollution out of watersheds. For more information and educational resources about the theme, go to www.nacdnet.org/education/contests/poster/2013.

Each of the conservation districts will submit their first-place posters in each category for judging at the state level. State-level winners will then be submitted to the national contest. Delaware has had a national-winning poster in the 2008, 2009 and 2010 contests. Judging for the computer-generated posters will occur at the local level only because the national-level contest does not accept computer-generated posters.

The name of the student, teacher, school, and student’s grade level must be written on the back of the poster. Posters must be hand-delivered or mailed flat in time to meet the deadline to the conservation district in the county in which the student resides.

Addresses for Delaware’s conservation district offices are as follows:

· New Castle Conservation District, 2430 Old County Road, Newark, DE 19702

· Kent Conservation District, 800 Bay Road, Suite 2, Dover, DE 19901

· Sussex Conservation District, 21315 Berlin Road, Unit 4, Georgetown, DE 19947

For more information, contact Deanna Killen at 302-856-3990, Ext. 109 or email Deanna.Killen@de.nacdnet.net.