Fight the Bite News Release!
Southern Students Win Second Annual National
“Fight the Bite” Poster Contest
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and
DEET Education Program Announce Winners
(click for 508 compliant PDF version 91kb)
Aimed at raising awareness of the best ways to prevent mosquito and tick bites, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and DEET Education Program this spring sponsored their second-annual nationwide “Fight the Bite” poster contest for fifth and sixth graders. CDC officials and the DEET Education Program’s executive director will present the awards (May 22) during a morning ceremony at CDC’s headquarters in Atlanta.
Students were invited to create posters that encourage children and adults to protect against mosquito and tick bites and the diseases they can cause.
A panel of judges, including children’s book author Michael Berenstain, reviewed the entries and selected two Grand Prize winners—one from each grade—who will receive a $1,000 U.S. Savings Bond and award certificate. The judges also chose state winners for fifth grade and sixth grade (see list on winners page), who will receive a $50 savings bond and certificate.
The sixth-grade national winning poster was created by Holly Guilbeau, 12, of Port Barre, La., who attended Grolee Elementary School in Opelousas. She was the contest’s fifth-grade winner for Louisiana last year.
The fifth-grade national winner is Peli Godden, 11, of Springfield, Mo., who attended Disney Elementary in Springfield. One of her classmates, Shinyoung Kim, is the state’s fifth-grade winner. And another classmate, Caity McDiarmid, was given an Honorable Mention award for her poster entry.
“Seeing three outstanding posters from one classroom was a fun surprise and their teacher, Sara Johnson deserves credit for helping them produce such good work,” said Emily Zielinski-Gutierrez, CDC behavioral scientist and contest creator. “Not only were the students very creative in their designs, the information and messages they convey are valuable and accurate, which means their teacher ensured they used the proper information sources.”
Twin sisters in fifth grade in New Hampshire, Katrina and Maryellen Gale, received identical scores from the judges for their posters and were designated “co-winners.”
The images are being shared nationally with public health educators and school nurses. The contest sponsors plan to incorporate the posters in future educational materials.
Available domestically since 1957, DEET is the world’s most widely used active ingredient for insect repellents. The active ingredients in repellents make the person unattractive for feeding, according to the CDC. Repellents do not kill mosquitoes.
“DEET has long been the gold standard for effectiveness against mosquitoes and many other insects and ticks, and has been used by consumers with confidence for more than 50 years,” said Susan E. Little, executive director of the DEET Education Program, which operates under the auspices of the Consumer Specialty Products Association. Little noted that no other repellent products have been used or studied more extensively than those with DEET.
More information about diseases from mosquito and tick bites, repellent use and other prevention strategies such as limiting standing water to reduce mosquitoes and landscape modification to discourage ticks can be found at the CDC Web sites www.cdc.gov/westnile and www.cdc.gov/lyme.
The DEET Education Program (www.deetonline.org) is sponsored by Clariant Corp., McLaughlin Gormley King Co., S.C. Johnson & Son Inc., 3M Company and Vertellus Health and Specialties Inc.
State winners, to receive a $50 savings bond and certificate can be found here.