LOS ANGELES—“Can The Trash!” poster contest is open to students from the third to fifth grade. The extended deadline is now January 31. According to the website, “To enter the poster contest, draw a picture with a message about how we can keep our oceans and beaches pollution-free and healthy.” The contest is designed to teach children about what causes ocean pollution and ways to stop it.

Trash is responsible for the death of ocean wildlife. According to the Environment California Organization, “Californians throw away 123,000 tons of plastic bags each year, and too many of them end up as litter in our ocean. Today, there are 100 million tons of trash in the North Pacific Gyre; in some parts of the Pacific, plastic outweighs plankton 6 to 1. Turtles and seabirds frequently ingest floating plastic, mistaking it for food. They also get entangled in bags and often drown or die of suffocation.”

Rules and Guidelines include: 

  • Hand-drawn, colored artwork on 8.5″ x 11″ white sheet of paper (landscape orientation.)
  • No copyrighted text or characters.
  • Original artwork created by student contestants.
  • More than one entry is permitted, but a separate entry form is required for each entry. 
  • One winner from each grade will be selected by each of the five County Supervisorial Districts. There will be a total of 15 winners who will be contacted directly and announced on the contest webpage.
  • Winners will have their artwork displayed around trash barrels on the beach
  •  Online submissions must be entered by an adult.

For more information, visit here.