UP-Wide LIVE Art & Word Contest
West End Suicide Prevention is excited to kick off the 3rd Annual LIVE Art & Word Contest as a way to help break the stigma surrounding mental health issues and suicide, engage students, encourage positive mental health and showcase the talents of high school students from across the Upper Peninsula.
The LIVE Art & Word Contest is open to all high school students across the Upper Peninsula. Students can submit entries with the theme ‘Mental Health Awareness’ in three categories: Visual Art, Written Word, Song/Dance/Theater. Students may submit poetry, paintings, photography, song, graphic arts, dance, quilting, or any other art form that addresses the theme of Mental Health Awareness. New this year, students will have the opportunity to display their entries at Peter White Public Library, in Marquette for a special LIVE Art & Word Display. The contest will run from now through February 15, 2023 and the display at Peter White Public Library will take place in May, 2023 – Mental Health Awareness Month. Students can submit their entries online at www.greatlakesrecovery.org/LIVE-art-word.
Each entry into the LIVE Art & Word Contest will be judged in three different ways. West End Suicide Prevention will judge each entry on how they addressed the theme: Mental Health Awareness. This will count for 40% of the total score. An Expert Panel of individuals with backgrounds in the three categories will judge the entries on their artistic quality counting for 40% of the total score. The entries will also be posted on social media to get the community’s input as well as to open the conversations around mental health and suicide. Social media scores will count for 20% of the total score for each entry.
“The LIVE Art & Word Contest started with about 40 entries the first year,” said Amy Poirier, West End Suicide Prevention Facilitator. “In 2021, we received over 90 entries. With all the positive changes to the contest this year, from the extended work time, to online entries to the possibility to having their work publicly displayed, we anticipate even more entries this year. There are so many people who help to make this possible — from the sponsors who make the cash prizes a possibility, the teachers across the UP who encourage their students, and the dedicated members of West End Suicide Prevention who believe in the power of this contest and our NMU Intern who is going to be a major part of the contest this year.”
For more information on the LIVE Art & Word Contest and to find the Official Rules and Entry Forms, go to www.greatlakesrecovery.org/LIVE-art-word or email wesp@greatlakesrecovery.org.
