Arbor Day Poster Contest offers tree-planting for student winner

LAWRENCE CO. – Join 5th grade students and teachers across the state in submitting original artwork for the annual Arbor Day Poster Contest by March 1, 2024, with winners being announced by April 12, 2024.

Brought to you by the Indiana DNR Division of Forestry’s Community and Urban Forestry program (CUF) and Indiana Project Learning Tree, this contest is designed to help students discover the important role of trees in Indiana’s urban and forest communities and foster their understanding, appreciation, and stewardship of the trees around them.

The theme for 2024 is Oak Trees: Superheroes of the Forest. 

All Indiana schools and homeschooling families/co-ops are eligible to hold a schoolwide contest and submit their winning poster to the statewide contest. Only one statewide entry will be accepted per school. Entries to the statewide contest must be scanned and sent to urbanforestry@dnr.IN.gov.  

The student who creates the winning poster will receive a gift card, a book for continuing their exploration of trees, and an Indiana native tree planting at their school. The winning student’s teacher will receive a kit of educational materials to support their class’s further engagement with Indiana trees, forests, and forestry, as well as a full scholarship to the Natural Resources Teacher Institute. Entries may also be featured on DNR social media.

Participating teachers are encouraged to engage with the contest theme in their classrooms to help inspire their students’ artwork. Teaching resources and standard alignments are provided on the contest webpage, along with full submission instructions, contest rules, and prizes.

We are also looking for volunteers to help with judging. If you are interested email Racheal Stenger at rstenger@dnr.IN.gov.