Date Published: 10/14/2020 [Source]
With entries for the Nevada Radon Poster Contest due soon, students who want to exhibit their artistic skills are encouraged to create posters to promote radon awareness.
It is open to all youth ages 9 to 14 registered at public, private, territorial, tribal, Department of Defense and home schools. Children can also enter through a sponsoring group, such as art, computer, library, reading, science, scouting, youth or 4-H Youth Development clubs.
Radon is a radioactive, colorless, naturally occurring, odorless and tasteless gas that comes from the decay of uranium. It collects in homes and living in elevated levels of the gas can increase a person's risk of developing lung cancer.
This risk is avoidable by testing for the gas and reducing the level of the gas in a home if needed. The only way to know if a home has elevated levels is to test for it.
The Nevada Radon Poster Contest is offering gift cards of the participant's choice for the top three entries worth: $75 for first, $60 for second and $45 for third place. The best three entries also win gift cards for their teachers or sponsoring organization's representative toward classroom supplies.
Posters should communicate one of the following messages: 1) What is radon? 2) Where does radon come from? 3) How does radon get into our homes? 4) Radon can cause lung cancer, and 5) Test your home for radon. Posters will be judged on content accuracy, visual communication of the topic, reproducibility and originality. They can be created with crayon, markers, paint, collage, pencil, photographs or computer graphics.
In addition, the first-place recipient's poster is entered into the National Radon Poster Contest, which also offers cash prizes. There is no fee to enter the Nevada contest, but each student is limited to one entry.
Entries must be received at the Extension office at 4955 Energy Way in Reno by Oct. 31.