World Asthma Day poster contest wants Mercedian kids to draw and color

Kids, get out your pencils and crayons.

The Merced/Mariposa County Asthma Coalition's annual World Asthma Day poster contest is here again.

Merced County students from preschool to eighth grade can create poster-size artwork -- on paper no larger than 8 1/2 x 11 --- with a clean air or asthma theme.

Winners will have their posters printed in the Sun-Star on May 6, World Asthma Day.

I personally am looking forward to seeing what makes it into the newspaper. Quite a few months ago, the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District sponsored a contest for Valley elementary school children. The winning pictures made it into a 2008 calendar. I have that calendar hanging in my cubicle right now and have enjoyed the colorful drawings each month. I hope the art resulting from the poster contest is an fun as the art in this calendar.

Some idea suggestions for the poster contest include: "What do you think of asthma or air pollution?" "What things cause asthma?" and "What can you or your school do to help clean the air?"

The submission deadline is April 23. Mail the posters to the Merced Sun-Star, Poster Contest, 3033 North G St., Merced CA 95340. And, no, I don't have anything to do with the contest. I just like the student art. For more information, contact Mary-Michal Rawling at the Asthma Coalition at (209) 385-5490 or mrawling@gvhc.org.