Winners rewarded in ozone poster competition

The call for submissions for the poster competition went out to schools in July. Students were tasked to come up with art pieces using the theme “Protect the Ozone Layer-Save Life on Earth.” The contest, an initiative of the Department of Environment, aimed to sensitise and educate the children on the importance of the ozone layer and reducing its depletion. Over fifty entries were received, and that number was narrowed down to four winners. Today those lucky recipients were at the Radisson to pick up prizes.

Martin Alegria, Chief Environmental Officer
?It was judged based on arts, capacity of a ten to fifteen year old, which was the age limit and the science, the accuracy of the science behind it.?

Shanel Pelayo, 1st Place
?The umbrella depicted the ozone layer and it has two sides. If you did what was right you go on the good side and if you do what was wrong and polluted you go on the bad side.?

Blanca Zabaneh, 2nd Place
?I came up with my idea for the post by finding lot of information and by the example that my teacher showed me and my cousin helped me. The poster is showing that?it has the sun and it has some dangerous UV rays that can destroy the ozone and we have to try not to use hairsprays and foams and ACs because that can destroy the ozone.?

Sharnelle Espinosa, 3rd Place
?I had a little help from my parents and my teacher. On the first section it has people dying from the UV rays and on the second side it shows that people are not using the hairsprays.?

Annie Li, 3rd Place
?Well at first I wasn?t really sure what was the ozone layer until I heard about the poster competition and I really wanted to it and I did a lot of research on it. I was sitting in class one day and looking at the flag for some ideas and I came up with the Belize flag design.?

Kendra Griffith, Reporting
?Explain the poster to me.?

Annie Li
?It has the earth in the middle with the ozone layer and pictures saying what you should do to protect it and what you shouldn?t do and information on the ozone layer.?

Martin Alegria
?It is a second step to what we had started earlier in March, February/March which was training of teachers on the ozone layer protection issue of standard five and standard six. Then we went to this step, try to incentivate the kids to now, which are basically the ones that would influence or make the change.?

First place winner Shanel Pelayo, a student of St. Catherine Academy, received a computer. Her poster will also be submitted for entry into a 2008 Caribbean calendar. Second place winner, Blanca Zabaneh, attends St. Joseph R.C. Her prize was a Motorola Razr cell phone. Third place winners Sharnelle Espinosa and Annie Li were each awarded an MP3 player. They are students of St. Joseph R.C. and Bernice Yorke Institute of Learning respectively. A special prize, in the form of a computer, was also given to Yo Creek Compassion Primary School for submitting the most entries in the competition.