City Awards Top Prizes for Poster Contest, Essay Skills

The City of Osawatomie, in partnership with Osawatomie Middle School, hosted two contests for students this fall and recently awarded hundreds of dollars in prize money to selected winners. One contest was designed around an established statewide essay contest held by the League of Kansas Municipalities, and the other was a fun opportunity to design a poster based on our current electric vehicle and charging station program, Osawatomie: Charging Forward.

Every year in Kansas, 7th grade students are encouraged to enter the League of Kansas Municipalities' "My City, My Home" essay contest and write an essay describing what makes their community a great place to live. The League accepts entries through November 23rd, 2022. From the League's website:

• Who: All Kansas students enrolled in the 7th grade during the 2022-23 school year.
• What: Each student may submit one essay not to exceed 500 words. Essays must be typed.
• When: Essays accepted until November 23, 2022. 
• Where: Essays may be submitted either via upload OR Google Form submission
• How: Essays will be evaluated based on: Understanding of city services, creativity, clarity, sincerity of thought, and proper grammar.
• Why: Five regional winners receive a cash prize of $125. The sixth regional winner will represent the state of Kansas and receive a $250 cash prize. Winning memos will be published in the Kansas Government Journal. Winners and their teacher are invited to attend a special ceremony with local leaders and state legislators in January 2023.

Of the over 100 essays that were submitted to the school through Ms. Dunn's ELA class, the top ten were forwarded onto the City for an additional round of review. From those ten, the big Top Four winners were selected for the cash prizes!

• 1st Place - Grace Jones ($250)
• 2nd Place - Isaiah Thompson ($175)
• 3rd Place - Alexanie Van Sickle ($100)
• 4th Place - Ashlyn Smith ($50)

The top ten essays are linked at the bottom of this page -- what a talented group of community members!

Awards for the essay contest were announced by Bret Glendening, Deputy City Manager, and Tammy Seamands, City Clerk, during the JumpStart portion of the schoolday on Tuesday, November 1st.

In Mr. Heaton's Social Studies class, students were encouraged to create a poster design based on our Osawatomie: Charging Forward electric vehicle project and our rural sustainability goals. Designs were submitted back to City Hall and another Top Four winners were selected for cash prizes:

• 1st Place - Kensley Craig ($250)
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• 2nd Place - Dakota Moser ($175)
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• 3rd - Izzy Broce ($100)
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• 4th - Jadyn Emery-Peters ($50)
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Awards for the poster design contest were announced on Saturday, October 29th, as part of our first community forum on electric vehicles and we were honored to have Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks Secretary Brad Loveless on hand to help distribute ribbons and prize monies alongside Osawatomie Mayor Nick Hampson. Kensley's design will also be turned into a t-shirt as part of our Charging Forward campaign!