The inaugural Design An Ad contest winners appear in today’s edition of The Dispatch. Complied of hand-drawn and computer generated advertisements, poems and short stories from local students, the young winners did an excellent expressing their creativity.
Last December, The Dispatch invited area schools to take part in the competition by learning how to design and build an ad based on creativity and meeting the advertisers needs. The response was overwhelming, making it all the more difficult to choose the winners.
Immanuel student Audrey Foreman created an ad sure to draw customers into her restaurant, “The Best BBQ Ever.”
“One day I was looking through the newspaper and saw a BBQ restaurant for sale. I knew I had to have it,” the fourth grader wrote.
“I would make the best hot sauce and BBQ sauce, it would be the best. I would make my own French fries because they are the best with my homemade ketchup,” she said.
“I would use it to make money and bring deliciousness to the people.”
Dispatch Advertising Director Beth Proffitt said she saw the program as a way to reach out to young readers.
“Our Newspapers in Education program is very important to us, and we saw the Design an Ad competition as a way to work with area students in helping them learn more about the newspaper and marketing and ad design in particular,” Proffitt, said.
“It’s always a challenge the first year we do a new edition, but we were so pleased with our area teacher’s willingness to have their students participate. Contrary to many opinions we hear these days, newspapers are alive and well, and our readership is as strong as ever. Making The Dispatch available to these students will hopefully help foster a sense of community awareness in the next generation of newspaper readers.
The first place winners from each grade level received a $50 savings bond.
Proffitt said without the advertisers who volunteered for the Design An Ad contest, the project would not have been possible.
“Our local advertisers’ support was crucial to the success of this project, and we can’t thank them enough for supporting our area students.”
Dispatch General Manager Peter Imes said he hopes the contest will become a Dispatch tradition.
Sarah Fowler covered crime, education and community related events for The Dispatch.
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