(WKBN) – The Ohio Committee for Severe Weather Awareness announced details for the 2023 statewide student poster contest. The goal is to bring awareness of severe and dangerous weather conditions to kids with a fun way to discuss and promote important weather safety strategies. There are prizes offered for statewide winners and a summer-time award ceremony.
Who can participate in the Ohio Committee for Severe Weather Awareness’s poster contest?
Any Ohio student in grades 1-6 is eligible to participate. The contest is open to public, private, charter, and home school students.
What do participants in the Ohio Committee for Severe Weather Awareness need to do?
Educators are encouraged to use the contest as a supplement to teaching kids about weather. In particular, the goal is to highlight safety tips during life-threatening weather conditions.
The Ohio Committee for Severe Weather Awareness outlines the following categories students may choose to cover: Tornadoes, flooding, thunder & lightning, winter storms, or extreme heat.
OCSWA requires all submissions to be original artwork by the students. The posters must show how people can protect themselves if threatened by one of the severe weather categories listed above. It must also include a written safety message.
Students are permitted to use computer or digitally generated artwork and text in their creations. Photographs, copyright-protected materials, and clippings from magazines/newspapers/books are not permitted. They can use crayons, markers, pencils, paints, stencils, or other sources of drawing/creating custom artwork.
Posters can be in either a landscape or horizontal orientation. The size of the poster must not exceed 11″ x 17″ paper.
How can teachers incorporate the Ohio Committee for Severe Weather Awareness poster contest into their classrooms?
The Ohio Committee for Severe Weather Awareness has resources available on its website outlining severe weather hazards that impact Ohioans throughout the year. You can find those materials on The Ohio Committee for Severe Weather Awareness’s website. Teachers can also reach out to StormTeam 27 to schedule a visit from one of our meteorologists to discuss severe weather safety with your students. You can reach out to us at Weather@WKBN.com.
One of the times to consider incorporating severe weather lessons would be during Ohio’s Severe Weather Awareness Week which runs from March 19-25. That is also the week of the annual state-wide tornado drill, scheduled for March 22 at 9:50 a.m., as long as severe weather isn’t expected to impact the state that day.
The OCSWA has resources available to provide certificates to students participating or winning a classroom, grade level, or school contest. You can find a link to those materials under the poster contest section of the OCSWA website.
When are submissions due and where should they be sent?
The OCSWA has a detailed rules packet, including the contest entry form included on their website. The link above includes which National Weather Service office to send the posters to. In our area, students in Trumbull and Mahoning counties will submit materials to the National Weather Service forecast office in Cleveland. Students in Columbiana county would send materials to the National Weather Service forecast office in Pittsburgh. You can find that information on page seven of the official rules packet at this link.
Submissions can be sent via U.S. mail or electronically to the appropriate forecast office. Entries are due by April 21. Each entry must include the entry form which can be found on page six of the official rules packet.
How are the severe weather posters judged?
Judging of the posters is based on originality, effort, and technical correctness of the safety information being presented on the poster.
What do winners of the contest win?
Aside from winning bragging rights, there are prizes awarded to winners in three different categories. For starters, winners are invited to attend an awards ceremony held at the Ohio State Fair in Columbus on Saturday, August 5.
Regional Winners: Regional winners receive two tickets to the Ohio State Fair, a certificate, and an assortment of prizes from the Ohio Committee for Severe Weather Awareness and their partners.
State Winners: State-level winners receive two tickets to the Ohio State Fair, a letter of congratulations from Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, and other prizes in addition to the assortment of prizes from the Ohio Committee for Severe Weather Awareness and their partners.
Overall State Winner: The overall state winner receives four tickets to the Ohio State Fair, a letter of congratulations from Ohio Governor Mike Dewine, four tickets to the Center of Science and Industry museum in Columbus, and an assortment of prizes from the Ohio Committee for Severe Weather Awareness and their partners. The overall winner’s school will also receive the Ohio Severe Weather Poster Contest Traveling Trophy to display for the remainder of the year when school resumes in the fall.
