Since 1995, National Health Education Week (NHEW) has been recognized as a federal health observance and is solely sponsored by the National Center for Health Education (NCHE). NHEW is celebrated during the third week of October. Since 1998, SOPHE has partnered with the National Center for Health Education to focus national attention on a major public health problem, provide public education on the issue and improve consumer’s understanding of the role of health education in promoting the public’s health. Each year a theme is selected for the week, materials and resources related to the theme, and program planning activities are developed, and disseminated to health education professionals and other stakeholders. Past themes have included healthy living, pediatric diabetes, asthma, medicine education, physical activity related to reducing obesity, and healthy eating related to reducing obesity.

A poster contest for children was conducted through schools in the Washington, DC metro area in conjunction with the 2004 National Health Education Week’s campaign, “Healthy Eating – Every Bite Counts!”. The contest encouraged children in 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades to learn about good nutrition and display their knowledge in an attractive poster. Six winners were chosen for each grade, and they were honored with their prizes at the Society for Public Health Education (SOPHE) annual meeting on November 6, 2004.

The contest was co-sponsored and developed jointly by the Student and New Professional Caucus of SOPHE (SNP-SOPHE) and the National Capital Area chapter of SOPHE (NCA-SOPHE). Financial assistance was provided by Chartered Health Plan, a Washington, DC-based managed health care company for Medicaid beneficiaries receiving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). Educational assistance came from the Dole Food Company.

The contest was open to children in 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades in the Washington, DC area. Children were requested to develop a poster on 8-1/2 x 11 paper that depicted the theme of “Healthy Eating – Every Bite Counts!”. The contest was publicized to the schools by contacting the major school district offices in the Washington, DC area approximately 6 weeks before the deadline with a phone call, an official letter, and a flyer that they could distribute to their teachers and students. In addition, participating schools could receive nutrition and educational materials from Dole Foods, including Dole’s “5 A Day Adventures” CD-ROM. The popular “5 A Day Adventures” engages students in fun, action-packed adventures in “5 A Day Land” as they learn about nutrition, physical activity, and the importance of eating 5 to 9 servings of fruits and vegetables a day.
In addition to the primary National Health Education Week theme, interested students could develop their own slogans around healthy eating. Some suggestions were given in the letter to the schools, such as:
• Put a Rainbow on Your Plate (Dole 5-A Day Campaign)
• Eat enough fiber to prevent certain kinds of cancers.
• Healthy eating helps you get up and go!
• Healthy eating puts a tiger in your tank
• Fish is a good way to get lean protein

The posters were collected from the students and judged by grade level. Judging was performed individually by members of SNP-SOPHE and NCA-SOPHE. Each poster received at least four scores, and all grade levels were judged separately by the same set of judges. All identifying information such as name of the child and school was removed for judging.