March 12, 2010
Voting under way to pick coloring contest winners
CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Your vote counts!
Dozens of children participating in a Southern Illinois University Carbondale community outreach project want you to vote for their artwork in a coloring contest now under way. Kids from throughout the region colored Saluki “dawg” pennants for the competition.
Participating in the 2010 contest are 39 schools in Jackson, Williamson, Union, Pulaski, Massac, Johnson, Pope and Alexander counties. The contest has expanded significantly since it debuted in 2009 only in Jackson and Williamson counties. In just two and a half weeks, voters cast more then 38,000 votes last year.
The University this year provided each school in the eight counties with enough pennants for all kindergarten-third grade children to color. Each classroom chose a winner and then each school selected overall winners from every one of the four grade levels. Those winning finalists came to SIUC and the top pennants for each grade level at each school are now online.
That’s where you, the voters, come in. Visit www.iheartsiu.com and see all of the colorful pennants created by the region’s children and vote for your favorites. Web site voting continues through March 26 to choose a winner for each grade level from each participating county. The voting is open to the public and you can vote as often as you like.
The winning artists will earn pizza parties for their entire classrooms.