Fifth-grader wins spot in calendar for anti-drug message

The 13 winners were chosen from more than 500 entries.

STAFF REPORT

NEW CASTLE, Pa. — A fifth-grader from Union Area Middle School has won a spot on the state attorney general’s 2010 Drug-Free Calendar.

Amanda Cyrus’ artwork will be featured during March on the calendar, according to Attorney General Tom Corbett’s office.

She and 12 other winners, including a grand-prize winner who will be on the calendar cover, were honored at a ceremony in Harrisburg last month.

This year, the winners were chosen from more than 500 entries from 50 counties.

The winners were chosen based on the artists’ creativity and ability to illustrate and convey a drug-free message.

“The annual calendar contest is more than just drawing pictures and having fun with art,” Corbett said in a prepared statement.

“This campaign carries a very serious message about drug-use prevention and encourages kids to remain drug-free,” he said.

Forty-four percent of all middle-schoolers have seen illegal drugs used or sold and other students drunk or high at school, he said.

An animated character called Legal Eye the Firefly is included in this year’s calendar. The character is an integral part of the drug-free message and appears throughout the calendar, Corbett’s office said.

During the ceremony, Corbett presented each winner with a U.S. Savings Bond. The grand-prize winner, Marcus Beacon of Level Green Elementary School in Westmoreland County, won a $500 bond. All the other winners received $200 bonds.