Eligible entries were received from 76 students at 14 schools in the Arlington, VA and Washington, DC school districts. Almost all of the posters showed a good knowledge of nutrition by the students. The posters displayed a variety of themes around healthy eating, and the level of creativity and artistic talent was very high. It is not known whether any of the schools requested the Dole Foods educational aterials. Some of the teachers who gained the participation of their students were art or physical education teachers.

The poster entries were displayed in the main entryway of the national SOPHE conference, and an awards ceremony was held for the winners on November 6, 2004 (see Slideshow 1 .EXE or .ZIP). Many of the children enjoyed the ceremony with their family members and/or teachers joining them.

Discussion
It was encouraging to see that almost all of the posters developed by the children displayed a great knowledge of which foods are healthy for them. It is not known how much educational assistance was provided by the teachers. It could be that these students learned about healthy eating in conjunction with this contest, or the students who chose to enter may have already been aware of which foods were healthy for them. It would be interesting in a future project to be able to track the awareness of healthy foods and eating habits of children before and after a similar contest to determine if participation would influence knowledge and/or eating patterns.

The children seemed motivated by the monetary reward and the awards ceremony. They also enjoyed showing off their works of art to their family members and teachers before and after the ceremony.
The schools proved to be a good method of publicizing the contest. However, it is recommended to contact the schools more than six weeks prior to the deadline to allow for more time to reach the most appropriate people in the school districts to help promote the contest.

Summary
National Health Education Week themes that are specific to children should encourage participation among schools, teachers and parents. The partnership between SOPHE, NCHE, SNP-SOPHE, NCA-SOPHE and Charter Health Plan offers possibilities for dissemination of other public health education campaigns. Furthermore, a children’s poster contest about healthy eating in schools in the Washington, DC area was successful in gaining 76 entries from 14 schools. Children in 3rd through 5th grades displayed a high level of knowledge of which foods were healthy for them and a high level of creativity and artistic talent. The children with the winning posters received cash prizes and were honored at an awards ceremony in their honor.