Poster competition highlights school bus safety

Iowa students are invited to showcase their artistic talents in a new poster competition focused on school bus safety.

Sponsored by the Iowa Department of Education, the first annual Iowa School Bus Safety Week Poster Contest challenges K-12 students to create a poster featuring this year’s theme, “Safe Rides, Everyday Heroes,” to help spread the word about school bus safety across the state.

To participate, all posters must reflect the “Safe Rides, Everyday Heroes” theme and display at least part of a yellow school bus within the content. Posters will be judged in the following four areas: 

• Safety impact: Relationship of the poster design to school bus safety practices
• Originality: Originality of the poster and how the idea is expressed in the poster design
• Artistic quality: Artwork and its execution
• Visual impact: Visual impact of the poster design

All entries will be split into five different divisions, listed below:

• Division 1: Grades K-2
• Division 2: Grades 3-5
• Division 3: Grades 6-8
• Division 4: CAD (Computer Aided Drawing Grades 5-12)

Poster submissions are due April 17. Students may choose to submit a hard copy poster or a digital version for the contest. All hard copy entries must include an entry label.

A committee comprised of professionals from the pupil transportation field will judge the posters.

The Department will announce the winning student artists from each division in May, and prints of the winning posters will be made available across the state for National School Bus Safety Week in October. Additionally, the winning posters will be submitted for the national poster competition.  

To see full contest details, including specifications and allowable materials, visit the Department’s Iowa School Bus Safety Poster Contest webpage.

Specific questions about the poster contest can be directed to Tom Simpson, state director for pupil transportation, at tom.simpson@iowa.gov.