Bainville, Froid Students Place At Statewide Art Contest
This year marks Keep Montana Green’s 60th annual Wildfire Prevention Art Contest for Montana students. Artwork from students in Bainville, Froid, and Wolf Point were voted statewide winners.
Froid 10th grader Xavier Gregor took second overall in the contest, In the senior division, Wolf Point 10th grader Katelyn MacDonald took first place. Froid freshman Missouri Kalal took third place in the junior division.
In the special education division, Froid seventh graders Trinity Gregor and Vala Gregor took first and second place respectively. Bainville ninth grader Wyatt Giese took third place.
In the computer generated division, Wolf Point 10th graders Kayden Fleming and Frank Baker took third place and honorable mention.
Since KMG’s formation at the end of World War II, the organization has been dedicated to the prevention of human-caused wildfires. Last year, 80 percent of Montana’s wildfires were human caused. KMG’s mission and the goals of the art contest are to promote awareness on how to prevent human-caused wildfires, assist educators with teaching fire safety and prevention, and to utilize the ideas and messages from the art contest in future fire prevention programs. The wildfire prevention art contest theme this year was “Keeping Montana Green.”
“Congratulations to all our 2021 Winners,” says Kristin Sleeper, KMG Executive Director. “This year’s artwork was not only impressive and competitive, but incredibly inspiring! Thank you for your participation and keep up the great work.”
This year, thousands of students across Montana participated in the annual contest. The posters are first judged in regional contests. First, second, and third places are decided, and those entries are submitted to the state-level contest where winners receive cash prizes and special recognition. Special education, coloring book, computer generated, and audio-visual divisions are also judged directly at the state level.
The contest added exciting new changes this year, including doubling of all prize money for statewide winner competitions, new second and third place overall positions in the statewide competition and a new coloring book division for this year only. The artwork will be featured in a special coloring book to commemorate Keep Montana Green’s 75th anniversary.
KMG was formed in 1945, chartered as a tax-exempt nonprofit organization in 1961 and is governed by a Board of Directors representative of its membership. The Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation has supported KMG since its inception and continues to provide the association with an Executive Director and office facilities. KMG maintains active public education and media programs focused on the prevention of human caused wildfires in Montana.
Each year, Keep Montana Green and the DNRC ask students and teachers across the state to participate in the annual art contest. The contest provides educators with a unit core for teaching students about wildfire safety, prevention, and conservation. The student-created posters help increase public awareness of the dangers of uncontrolled wildland fires. They remind the public to be more careful with fire and fire-causing hazards while enjoying the state’s forests, campgrounds, and rangelands, as well as in everyday life.
Find out more at keepgmontanagreen. com.
