FSDDS Promoting Sun Safety and Awareness for Children through Elementary School Essay Contest in Florida

In order to promote and increase sun safety and awareness, the Florida Society of Dermatology and Dermatologic Surgery (FSDDS) is holding an essay contest at the elementary school level across Florida.  The FSDDS Florida Sun Defense Essay Contest is designed to help educate elementary school age children and parents about the importance of sun safety.  It is being co-sponsored by the Florida Association for Media in Education (FAME) as a part of its on-going information literacy efforts.

Four overall winners statewide will be awarded a large shade structure for the playground at their respective school, one each for the northeast, northwest, central and southern regions of Florida.  Secondary prizes will also be awarded for winning schools.  We will also select one grand prize winner, who will receive an expenses paid trip for that student and their family, as well as the teacher of that student, to attend our 2008 FSDDS Annual Meeting on May 23-26, 2008 at the Boca Raton Resort and Club in Boca Raton, Florida.  They will receive recognition at this meeting, as well as have their paper presented at the meeting.

Each participating elementary school should solicit entries from their students and have them returned to you as the media specialist for your school by March 15, 2008.  Each student should write in 500 words or less about the reasons why one would want to protect themselves from the sun and why their school should be awarded one of our shade structure prizes.  You should then work with your school as you see fit and in conjunction with your principal to select one winner to represent your school in our statewide competition.  This winning essay should be chosen and submitted in PDF format to our society for consideration via email to info@fsdds.org no later than April 1, 2008 using the form included with this letter.  This form should also be completed by any student choosing to participate in the contest.

Once the cut-off date has been reached, all entries will be forwarded to our contest review committee for consideration.  All entries will then be notified by email to the address submitted with your essay regarding the status of your entry by April 15, 2008.  Please contact the FSDDS Office at 850-531-8373 or email us at info@fsdds.org should you have any questions concerning this contest.  Thanks in advance for your participation.

A printable promotional poster is available by clicking here. For more information, please visit the Press page on this website.