2008 School Bus Safety Poster Contest
View 2007 POSTER CONTEST WINNERS

NATIONAL SCHOOL BUS SAFETY WEEK
http://www.ncbussafety.org/PosterContest.html

Each year, the National School Bus Safety Week (NSBSW) Committee conducts a poster contest to help publicize NSBSW. National judging takes place in the fall for a poster to be used the following year. This spring, the N.C. Department of Public Instruction is sponsoring a statewide poster contest. Winning entries will be displayed at www.ncbussafety.org and the top poster from each division will be submitted for the national poster contest.

WHO MAY ENTER
All North Carolina public school students in the appropriate grades may enter. The contest is divided into four divisions: Division 1 - Grades K-2, Division 2 - Grades 3-5, Division 3 - Grades 6-8, Division 4 – Special Education, Division 5 – computer assisted drawing (CAD). (CAD entries are not eligible as the overall national winner but a Division winner will be awarded.)

DEADLINE DATE - COMPLETED POSTERS MUST BE RECEIVED AT THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION BY MAY 16, 2008.
Posters can not be returned and those that are forwarded to the national contest become the property of the National School Bus Safety Week Committee. They must be mailed/delivered flat – DO NOT ROLL.

POSTER SPECIFICATIONS
Designs should be on quality tag, poster illustration board or heavy paper. Construction paper may be used but must be mounted on quality tag poster stock. Lamination is not allowed.

Size: 12” X 18” or 11”X 17” for entire poster (including the bottom margin).

Margin: 1” white margin at the bottom of poster MANDATORY.

Axis: Design may be drawn vertically or horizontally.

Media: Print, crayon, cut paper, felt pen, etc. is acceptable. Wood, plastic, glass, metal or collage material is not acceptable. Glued on pieces will eliminate the poster.

Lettering: All lettering must be legible and in freehand - not stenciled, pre-printed or manufactured stick-on or press-on letters or tracings may not be used.

Copyright: Design may not incorporate any copyrighted characters (i.e. comic and television characters), photographs and magazine or newspaper illustrations.

Entry blank: There must be a 3”x 5” card/entry blank securely fastened to the BACK of the poster which includes the student’s name, grade, age, teacher’s name, school name and school address.  PLEASE PRINT CLEARLY.

POSTER THEME
The poster theme must be original, correct in safety concept and the exclusive work of the student entering the contest in idea, design and execution. Instructors should supervise all work created. The poster theme must harmonize with the following slogan only: “AVOID HARM, OBEY THE STOP ARM” CONTESTANTS MUST ILLUSTRATE THE ABOVE SLOGAN AND THE EXACT SLOGAN MUST BE INCLUDED ON THE POSTER.

Instructors should point out the relevance of the slogan to students.
This is an important slogan that students and adults alike should learn to understand. The slogan emphasizes how important it is for motorists to stop for a stopped school bus. On a typical school day in North Carolina, a motorist passes a school bus that is stopped to receive or discharge passengers 2000 times! Each one of these time is a potential instance of injury to a student. Motorists need to understand how dangerous this is. Students need  to understand this so that they will make sure to LOOK before crossing. For more information  on this topic, please visit www.ncbussafety.org/StopArm.html
                                                                                                            
RULES - Illustrations must be positive in approach, demonstrating only proper school bus safety behaviors. At least part of a  YELLOW SCHOOL BUS and AN EXTENDED STOP ARM must be present in the poster. To be considered on a national level, posters should include only generic printed matter other than the official slogan “AVOID HARM, OBEY THE STOP ARM.” It should not be "North Carolina specific." For instance, you may indicate a bus number on a bus illustration but do not specific county names, state designation or actual school names.  This would ensure a fair judging process when it came time for voting and possibly, if the poster was selected as a winner for NC, in the National Poster Contest.

STATE ENTRIES
If you have a large number of entries, you may want to conduct a local judging and send only the qualifying posters. Please package the posters properly, mail tubes may be used but rigid poster material is best mailed in a flat (unrolled) manner. (CAD entries should be sized appropriately and sent in a JPG or TIFF format. They may be emailed to dgraham@dpi.state.nc.us or mailed on diskette.)  Please mail all entries to the following address:

NC Department of Public Instruction
Transportation Services
Attention:  NC School Bus Poster Contest
6319 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC  27699-6319

STATE JUDGING
 Posters will be judged at the state level by N. C. Department of Public Instruction staff. Posters not complying with aforementioned rules will be disqualified. All qualified posters will be judged on the following criteria:
a. Relationship of the poster design to school bus safety practices.
b. Originality of the poster and how the idea is expressed in the design.
c. Artwork and its execution.
d. Visual impact of the poster design.
The right to modify any poster for reproduction is reserved by the National School Bus Safety Week Committee (NSBSW). Only those posters received or postmarked by May 16, 2008 will be considered. RECOGNITION

AND PRIZES
State winners will be recognized in writing from the Department of Public Instruction, Transportation Services with a certificate and a prize.  Up to twelve posters may
be featured on our website: www:ncbussafety.org as our state finalists.National prizes will be awarded for each division as follows:

1st Place and Overall Winner	$1000 Savings Bond
1st Place Winners of remaining 3 Divisions	$500 Savings Bond
2nd Place Winners of each 4 Divisions	$250 Savings Bond
3rd Place Winners of each 4 Divisions	$100 Savings Bond
1st Place Winner – CAD Division	$100 Savings Bond The National School Bus Safety Week

Committee is comprised of members of the National Association for Pupil Transportation, the National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services, the National School Transportation Association and the Pupil Transportation Safety Institute.Entry Form for copying and placing on the BACK of your poster entry.  Please make sure the information is printed and filled out properly.Entry Form for copying and placing on the BACK of your poster entry. Please make sure the information is printed and filled out properly.

Select here for contest information and entry form.