Meadville Elementary

VIRGINIA ASSOCIATION FOR PUPIL TRANSPORTATION POSTER CONTEST

WHO MAY ENTER
Anyone enrolled in a public school. Five winning divisions that include: Division #1-Grades K-2; Division #2-Grades 3-5; Division #3-Grades 6-8; Division #4-Special Education (Grades K-12); Division #5-Computer Aided Drawing (CAD), and Division #6-international entries. (Division #5 and Division #6 are eligible for competition within those respective divisions but are not eligible to be the Overall Contest Winner.) Each participating US state, Canadian province, or overseas US military installation may submit one (only first-place winners) winning poster in the above categories.)

POSTER THEME: Every poster and slogan must harmonize with the 2025-65 poster contest theme:

SAFE RIDES, EVERYDAY HEROES

Contestants must illustrate the above theme only. The theme on the poster must be exactly as shown above, to include all punctuation. Completion of art should be done in school.

POSTER CREATION PERIOD: December 1, 2025 – April 3, 2026.

DEADLINE DATE: Completed poster designs must be postmarked by April 10, 2026. All entries become the property of the State School Bus Safety Committee and will not be returned.

POSTER SPECIFICATION: Completed poster size must be 11” x 17” or 12” by 18”. Posters may be illustrated on the vertical or horizontal axis.

Designs should be submitted on quality tag, poster illustration board or heavy paper. Construction paper may be used but entries must be mounted on quality tag poster board. Lamination is not permitted and will disqualify the poster.

There is no limitation on the use and number of colors.

There is no limitation on the type of media – such as print, crayon, felt pen, etc. – used on the poster design; however, wood, plastic, glass, or metal should not be part of the poster. Collage materials should not be used. Glued-on pieces will disqualify the poster.

Poster designs may not incorporate any copyrighted materials (i.e., comic and/or television characters), including stock artwork, meaning photographs or other images of common places, landmarks, nature, events, or people; clip art, meaning anything from an existing collection of pictures or image raster graphics or vector graphics.

The theme (SAFE RIDES, EVERYDAY HEROES) must be included in the poster design.

Drawings must be original, correct in safety concept and the exclusive work of the student entering the contest in idea, design, and execution. All the artwork should be positive in approach, demonstrating only proper school bus safety behaviors. At least a part of a yellow school bus must be present on the poster.

There must be an entry blank (bottom of page 2) securely fastened to the back of the poster which includes the student’s name, grade, age, teacher’s name, email address, school name and school address. Please print clearly. Do not place name, school, etc. on the front of the poster. Display information on the back only.

LETTERING AND DRAWING: The poster design may incorporate freehand letters only. Stenciled, preprinted, manufactured stick-on or press-on letters or tracings may not be used and will disqualify the poster. Lettering should be clearly legible, even if used as part of the poster design. Cut paper/stencils (freehand or pre-drawn stick-on stencils) are not permitted and will disqualify the poster.

SENDING ENTRIES: Do not roll posters. Entries should be mailed in a flat box so that they arrive undamaged.

Send posters to the following address:
Chesterfield County Public Schools
Attention: Tasha A. Drew and Candance Harris
10201 Courthouse Road
Chesterfield, VA 23830

JUDGING: Prominent individuals in the field of pupil transportation will evaluate posters. Criteria for the selection of award-winning posters are:
• Safety Impact – Relationship of the poster design to the school bus safety practices.
• Originality – Originality of the poster and how the idea is expressed in the poster design.
• Artistic Quality – Artwork and its execution.
• Visual Impact – Visual impact of the poster design.

All rules regarding poster specification, themes, lettering, etc. must be followed or the poster will be disqualified.

PRIZES: Prizes will be awarded for the first, second, and third places in each division as follows:

1st Place Winner of each division $100.00 Check and Blue Ribbon
2nd Place Winner of each division $ 75.00 Check and Red Ribbon
3rd Place Winner of each division $ 50.00 Check and White Ribbon