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Bookmark Art Contest Aims To Help Youth Resolve Disputes
CONROE, TX – The 5th Annual Conflict Resolution Day Bookmark Art Contest will begin August 13, 2018 and continue through September 28, 2018. Judge Kathleen Hamilton, 359th Judicial District Court, will help to award cash prizes to the winning students and anti-bullying books to their teachers at an Awards Ceremony on October 19, 2018 at the Montgomery County Commissioners’ Court in Conroe. The winning bookmarks are then displayed at the Montgomery County Memorial Central Library 30 days following the ceremony. In 2017, the Dispute Resolution Center of Montgomery County (DRC-MC) distributed 16,000 copies of the top winning bookmarks throughout the county to encourage a culture of kindness.
Contest rules and a template for the bookmark art will be available at www.Resolution-Center.org, through all the local school districts, and all branches of the Montgomery County Memorial Library system beginning August 13, 2018. The 2017 winner names and images of some of the prior winners will also be available for viewing at the DRC-MC website when the contest begins on August 13, 2018.
Last year’s DRC-MC Conflict Resolution Day Bookmark Art Contest received 1927 entries from 44 schools across the county.
Since 2014, the DRC-MC has sponsored the Conflict Resolution Day Bookmark Art Contest for Montgomery County students in grades kindergarten through 8th grade. The contest is open to students in private, public, or home-school environment in order to foster a countywide conversation about resolving conflicts. There are 3 entry levels for the contest, K-2nd grade, 3-5th grade, and 6-8th graders. Students are encouraged to submit original bookmark size artwork with themes of conflict resolution or preventing conflict. Contest judges from various organizations, including The Woodlands Art Council, The Conroe Art League, The Woodlands Art League, The Woodlands Bar Association, the Montgomery County Judiciary and the DRC-MC will judge the bookmark art based on creativity and message during the first week in October.
Lois Voth, Chair of the Board of the DRC-MC, is excited about the participation of younger citizens of our community in the Bookmark Art Contest. “What a wonderful contest for children! It offers opportunities to discuss how to respond to bullies and how to work through conflicts. The ideas and artwork that children then create are varied, delightful and inspirational. Expressing ideas visually allows us all to grasp complicated concepts in new ways.”
The Conflict Resolution Day Bookmark Art Contest is done in conjunction with the #ITookThePledge social media campaign where elected officials, business owners, teachers, and parents are asked to sign a pledge to resolve conflicts peacefully to create a safer place for all of us to live in. The #ITookThePledge social media campaign will be initiated at www.Facebook.com/MontgomeryCountyDRC at the beginning of October 2018. The DRC-MC challenges all Montgomery County residents to take the pledge to make our community a better place.
Elaine Roberts, Executive Director of the DRC-MC said, “We almost cancelled the Conflict Resolution Day Bookmark Art Contest last year because of county-wide disruption caused by Hurricane Harvey. We are glad that we went ahead with the 2017 contest despite Harvey because we still received 1927 entries from 44 schools across the county. Multiple students, teachers and parents told us how much they enjoy this annual contest and how working on their bookmarks brings hope and inspiration even in difficult times.”
Celebrating 30 years of helping people peacefully resolve their disputes, the DRC-MC is located in Downtown Conroe at 301 N. Thompson Street. The Montgomery County Commissioners Court and Montgomery County Bar Association established the nonprofit organization in 1988 and the DRC-MC has been helping people with difficult conversations since that time. Mediation fees are administered on a sliding scale based on ability to pay to prevent disputes from escalating into serious civil or criminal matters.
Find out more about the Dispute Resolution Center of Montgomery County, Inc. by visiting www.resolution-center.org or call (936) 760-6914, 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Monday-Friday for additional information.
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