By the Division of Conservation

This fall, thousands of students across Kentucky will be learning about water through the Jim Claypool Art and Conservation Writing contests. The annual contests — an art contest for students kindergarten through fifth grade and a writing contest for students in grades six through 12 — allow them to use the knowledge they have gained about the environment and transform it into creative art work and essays.

The Kentucky Association of Conservation Districts and the Kentucky Farm Bureau Federation sponsor the contest and provide materials that can be used in classrooms or at home to help the students learn about the year’s topic.

State 1st Place winner for Water in 2013 by Pheobe Wagoner of Nicholas Co.

During the contest this year, students will learn about how water is essential to life on Earth and how to conserve water. They will then create essays or posters to show what they have learned. Students can earn monetary prizes. Contest winners at each school will receive prizes that vary from school to school. On the county level, there will be a $25 prize and on the regional level $50 will be awarded. State-level winners will receive $50 for third place $150 for second place and $250 for first-place finishes.

“I am so excited to see what the students come up with this year,” said Johnna McHugh, the Assistant Director of Conservation.  “The quality of Kentucky’s water is so important to all of us, and the Jim Claypool Art and Conservation Writing contest gives the children a fun and easy to understand way to learn this.”

Last year the contests received 15,260 writing entries from 87 counties and 44,152 art entries from 96 counties.

For more information about the contests, please visit your local conservation district office or http://conservation.ky.gov/Pages/ArtandWritingContest.aspx.  Contest materials will be released on September 1.