Published: Feb 04, 2014 | 09:00 AM

Sharpen Those Pencils – It’s Poster Contest Time

Student artists, photographers and digital artists in the Irvine Ranch Water District service area are invited to participate in various contests that showcase their skills. Announcements have been sent to all of the local schools, inviting students in kindergarten through fifth grade to participate in the annual “Water is Life” poster contest. Students in grades six through 12 have the opportunity to enter the Water Awareness Photography and Digital Arts Contest.

IRWD has a great track record – last year, there were five poster winners in the K-5 category, one slogan winner and one in the digital category.

The deadline for kindergarten through fifth grade students to enter their art work is Thursday, March 20. Students participating through the Irvine Unified School District may send their completed posters to Brad Van Patten’s office at the District office on Barranca Parkway.

Contest rules include:

• Use 12 X 18 white paper. Newsprint and larger sizes will not be accepted.
• Students must leave a one inch white border on all four sides.
• Crayons, markers, ink, poster paint, pastels, chalk, water color or cut paper or fabric may be used. Brighter colors photograph best.
• Horizontal (landscape) format only.
• Include a brief water message (be sure to check spelling!)
• Original art work only – no copyrighted material. Be creative!
• Do not put student’s name on the front of the poster.
• Back of poster must have an entry form with student’s information and signed parental release.

Students entering the “Water is Life” poster contest could have their art work published in the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California’s 2015 calendar.

The deadline for sixth through 12^th grade students to enter the photography and digital arts contest is Friday, March 29. The theme is “Thirst”, with the goal of getting students thinking about the importance of our most valuable resource – water. For example, why is water vital for our way of life, or how can we help save water during a drought? Some rules include:

• All files must be submitted in JPG, PNG, or PDF format and should be no larger than 10 megabytes in size.
• Photographs and digital art work should be medium to high resolution (300 dots per inch or higher.)
• Computer-generated art work can be created using Adobe Photoshop/Illustrator, Microsoft Publisher/PowerPoint, or any other graphics program.
• Only original art work will be accepted. Submissions must not contain images created by anyone other than the student.
• Entries must be emailed to digitalarts@mwdoc.com, or post entries to the Municipal Water District of Orange County facebook page. In the email subject line, type: Digital Arts Contest.
• In the body of the email, include: student’s name; grade level; school name; teacher’s name; home phone number and email address.
• Include two-three sentences explaining how the art work/photograph was created.

Please visit our website for contest entry forms and more information.