Thirteen Brevard County students' drug-free posters were selected this week for display in the 2007 Drug-Free Calendar. Grand Prize Winner was Jamie Chaney, a sixth grader from Dr. W. J. Creel Elementary.

State Attorney Norm Wolfinger and Brevard Sheriff Jack Parker co-sponsor the contest and participated in the judging. The winning pieces of art were selected from more than 3,320 posters submitted by area fifth- through eighth-grade students.

The posters will highlight 36,000 full-color calendars which will be distributed to all students in grades 5 through 8 before the winter break. The winners of the poster contest will be recognized at an awards ceremony held in their honor later this fall.

The grand prize winner’s poster will appear on the cover of the 2007 Drug-Free Calendar, with each additional winning poster gracing a month on the pages inside. The production is paid for with money recovered during drug arrests.

The judges, a panel of five community leaders, selected first-, second-, and third-place winners from each of the four grades, plus the grand-prize winner.

The project is a cooperative one, headed by State Attorney Norm Wolfinger and Brevard Sheriff Jack Parker, joined by the Brevard School District and a number of community agencies.

Sixty area schools, both public and private, participated in the project.

"This contest is part of one of the most important roles we serve—preventing crime. We attack drug problems on a number of fronts, but prevention is key to the effort. Activities like these ultimately help protect our citizenry and our youth. It warms my heart to walk these hallways and see all of these bright colors and sincere messages on these posters. We have a great future ahead of us,'' said State Attorney Wolfinger.

Sheriff Parker and State Attorney Wolfinger praised area teachers for their participation and support of the program.

Judges included Dan Billow, WESH-TV; Andrea Alford, Brevard County School District staff; Jackie Borsanyi, Brevard Museum of Art and Science; Sheriff Parker and State Attorney Wolfinger.

Pictured left to right: State Attorney Norm Wolfinger, Dan Billow, Jackie Borsanyi, Andrea Alford, Brevard Sheriff Jack Parker.