Every year the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) conducts a national poster contest for fifth graders to bring greater awareness to the issue of missing children. The poster contest is designed to increase awareness about the danger of abduction among children while providing an opportunity for organizations to engage children and their parents in informative discussions on safety and prevention.
The theme for the poster contest is “Bring Our Missing Children Home.” Students are asked to design and draw a poster that reflects the theme and complete an application describing the importance of the theme. Each state holds its own poster competition, and the winning poster from each state is submitted by the state poster contest manager to OJJDP for selection of the national winner. For more information about your state’s contest, please contact your state contest manager.
For their efforts to bring greater awareness to their peers, the winner and his/her teacher and parents will travel to Washington, D.C., to receive an award and participate in the Missing Children’s Day ceremony.
Complete rules, information, and other poster contest resources can be found on the poster contest resource page.
For more information about National Missing Children’s Day and associated programs, please visit http://www.ojjdp.gov/programs/postercontest/index.html.
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| 2011 | 2010 | 2009 |
| “I wanted to use the bald eagle as the center piece of my poster because it’s our nation’s symbol of strength, courage, and freedom. It’s watching over our missing children, its wings are outstretched to protect them, and it’s clutching a banner that is serving as an “Amber Alert.” The children holding hands have been found and are making their way back home. I was inspired to create this poster by my mother, who has been a crime victim. Since I was very young, she has taught me, my family, and other little children ways to stay safe.” - Julianna Hinton |
“In my drawing it is representing the children that do not have a home. The children that have been kidnapped by bad people, taking them far away from their families. My wish is that they could be return to their homes. That is why I draw the hands; they are a symbol of a special person that guides them back home. The planet is a heart. It means that all kids needs so much love. The clouds are white meaning the children soul, which is very soft and pure. The hands can be Bod who has the power to protect and returned these children where they belong…Home. If we trust Him, the children will be back in their homes.” - Billy Joe Reyes Collado |
“Just as cancer, the military, AIDS, and others have awareness ribbons, so does missing children. I chose to make my ribbon though, all the colors of the rainbow as kidnapping is not reserved for one kind of child, but all. My ribbon is made up of names of missing children. The heart in the center is the heart of parents and loved ones waiting for their children to come home, as home is where the heart is.” - Dakhota-Rae Brown |
