Fifth grader Suah Kim had no idea her crossword puzzle poster with clever water conservation messages would go all the way to the state competition and win a prize.
Kim submitted her work as part of the 2024 Drop Savers Water Poster Contest sponsored by the AWWA Florida Section. Hillsborough County, where Suah lives, has taken part in the three-decade-old contest for 10 years. The Hillsborough contest is open to K-12 students. Residents get their water from the county system, which serves unincorporated areas, from Tampa, another city, or from a private well.
The county system includes four water treatment plants and five wastewater treatment plants serving about 715,000 customers. The competition was promoted on the county’s and Tampa’s websites, on social media, through press releases and as part of software the county provides to school guidance counselors. Anthony Halcyon, senior environmental scientist for the county, talked it up at several Great American Teach-Ins where parents and other community members talk about their careers and other interests with students.
Promoting originality
The contest kicks off in November, and students have until mid-February to enter. “The idea is for the kids to use their creativity to express their water conservation messages through images and slogans,” Halcyon says. One clever design was a water drop that contained a fishbowl, which in turn held little fish — emphasizing that humans are not the only ones who benefit from water conservation measures. The artwork is judged in February, and winners are announced in March to the students and teachers.
There are five age categories of competition. Submissions at the county level average 40 to 60 per year, mainly from students of art and science teachers. Judges are Halcyon, his manager David Glicksberg and Tonia Torres, environmental specialist with Tampa’s Water Conservation team. First-place county winners receive:
- A jigsaw puzzle of the student’s submission
- Poster of the artwork
- Water conservation kit
- Florida State Park prize packages
- Reusable water bottles imprinted with the artwork to share with their class
Celebrating excellence
Winners are recognized in May at a Hillsborough County School Board meeting and receive certificates. Parents are encouraged to attend. Students are filmed receiving their awards and receive copies of the recording. Teachers of winning students get art supplies for their classrooms.
Kim was filmed on local TV with her winning submission along with David Glicksburg, the county’s sustainable water resources manager. Glicksberg spoke briefly on water conservation, and Kim described her entry and why she chose that design.
Besides the name of the contest in a crossword puzzle format, the poster illustrates ways to save water at home in daily life. While waiting to go on camera, Kim told Halcyon, “My father is a professor of environmental sciences, and I guess water conservation awareness has trickled down in my family.”
