Reading, Pa. — The entries have been submitted and anticipation is heating up as judging day looms for the 11th annual Crime Alert Berks County poster contest.
It’s believed that some 2,300 fourth- and fifth-grade students from 10 Berks County school districts participated, creating posters focusing on this year’s theme: “Friendship Knows No Color.”
The theme, selected by Crime Alert Berks officials, centers on equality – that everyone in our community and throughout the nation deserves equal treatment regardless of his or her race, religion, ethnicity, orientation, politics, or economic status.
The words “Friendship Knows No Color” were a required part of the design. Students could create with crayons, markers, paints, colored pencils, or use paper cutting to make their posters colorful and bright.
The contest is coordinated by Chris Nein, vice president/fund raising, for Crime Alert Berks, and Alan Kline, a retired advertising executive and member of the advisory board.
Judging of the posters will occur the afternoon of Thursday, April 5, at the Wyomissing Restaurant and Bakery.
Awards for the designers of the winning posters will be given during the annual “Race Against Crime” set for Thursday, April 26, from 6 to 8 p.m. at Slick Willy’s at The Works in Wyomissing. Invited along with the winning students will be their teachers, classmates, and parents. There will also be free cupcakes for the winning class.
Prizes include an Xbox One game, a gift certificate to The Works, and a $100 gift certificate to HobbyTown USA. The first four fourth- and fifth-grade students from each school to register with Nein are eligible to be drivers at the Race Against Crime.
Sponsors for this year’s contest include Mortgage America, A to Z Vacuum, First Priority Bank, HVM&L, Discovery Bank, Denny’s Electric, Applebee’s, Performance Toyota, Boscov’s, Great Valley Consultants, Blankets of Hope, Café Sweet Street, The Works, Chick-Fil-A Broadcasting Square, Palmer Candy, Wyomissing Restaurant and Bakery, Baker Tilly, Redner’s Warehouse Markets, Dairy Queen, Star City Boxing, and the BCIU.
Prior poster themes have included “Don’t Just Sit. Stay Fit!” and “Stay Away From Strangers” and “Stop Bullying, It Hurts.”
