The winners of the 18th annual Red Ribbon Kids Fight Drugs poster contest have been selected.
» Jenny Jang, a fifth-grader from Ellwood School is the grand-prize overall winner.
» Chris Pisano, an eighth-grader from Goleta Valley Junior High is the second-place overall winner.
» Sarah Jang, a first-grader from Ellwood School is the third-place overall winner.
The nine grade-level winners from kindergarten to eighth grade are Tyler Norma, Jessica Rabinowitz, Mori Chiba, Lissette Gonzales, Madison Lewandowski, Evelyn Slaught, Marla Ruiz, Sophia Zheng and Marie Takahashi.
Each year, Santa Barbara’s Fighting Back receives thousands of poster entries from students throughout the Santa Barbara South County for the poster contest. The annual event promotes drug- and alcohol-free living to children by asking them to express how they feel about a voiding substance use in the poster contest. This year’s theme for the artwork was “Ask Me, See Me, Be Me … I’m Drug Free!”
The thousands of submissions are judged by grade level, with a winner for each grade level featured in the 2009 Kids Fight Drugs calendar that is sent to the local schools. All 12 winners are also awarded savings bonds funded by drug seizure monies provided by the Santa Barbara Police Department, the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Department and the Santa Barbara District Attorney’s Office.
The 12 winners and 38 honorable mentions and their families are invited to an awards reception in the Mural Room of the Santa Barbara Courthouse from 2:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. Oct. 19. Calendars of the winning posters are sent to schools before winter break.
For more information, contact Kate at 805.963.1433 x110 or kschwass@cadasb.org.
Jasmine Rara is media and special events coordinator for the Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse.