The International Lions Clubs Peace Poster Contest is an annual International Art Contest that begins at the local level. Students must be between the ages of 11 and 14 to participate, and must be sponsored by one of the 45,000+ Lions Clubs in 205 countries and regions around the world, making it the largest Art Contest in the World, supported not only by the International Lions Clubs, but also the United Nations whose home is in New York City. The International winners receive monetary awards and the First Place winner receives his/her International Award in the General Assembly at the United Nations, on International Lions Clubs day. Lions Clubs International is recognized as the single largest humanitarian and civic organization in the world. One international prize winner and 23 merit award winners are selected. View past international prize winners at Lions Clubs International website.
Students in Easton begin their work in September each year under the supervision of their Art teachers in the Easton Middle School, Kathy Hayes and Kristen Kelley who work to focus the students on the requirements of the contest and submit the final posters to the Easton Lions Club for judging. The poster of the First Place winner at the Club level is forwarded to the contest at the second level which is a competition among the 55 Lions Clubs in MA District 33S in which thousands of students participate. Each of the 55 Clubs may submit a winning poster to the District contest. The winning poster at the District level is forwarded to the contest at the State level, and if successful to the national and international levels.
In the past, as many as 300 students in Easton were able to participate. Due to cut backs in the Art Program, approximately 60 students now participate in their Art classes. Students who do not have Art Classes during the first term may also participate. All students who participate are in the 6th Grade. Each year, there is a theme about peace in the world as the focus of this contest. This year’s theme was “Sharing Peace”. Students create posters that are visualizations of their concepts of “sharing peace”.
Students who place in First, Second and Third Place receive a special certificate and a monetary award. This year, the Lions also awarded an Honorable Mention. The Easton Lions Club President, Nancy Sullivan, is delighted to announce the 2015 – 2016 awards recipients. She is impressed by the creativity with which students expressed their concepts about what shared peace means to them. Award winners for 2016 are:
- First Place: Michael Haikal
- Second Place: Christopher Santos
- Third Place: Antonia Ginis
- Honorable Mention: Lily Gaskill
