The thirteen Seminole County students whose posters are displayed in the 2008 Drug-Free Calendar will be honored by the State Attorney’s Office and Seminole Sheriff’s Office at 6 p.m. Monday (Dec. 3) at Winter Springs High School Auditorium, 130 Tuskawilla Road, in Winter Springs.

Also toasted will be the winners of the Drug-Free Essay Contest which ran simultaneously with the Poster contest. The grand prize essay will grace the inside cover of the calendar which will be distributed to more than 20,000 school children before the first of the year. The winning posters were selected from 2,002 entries coming from 35 public and private schools in Seminole County. The annual contest and event is co-sponsored by the State Attorney’s Office, the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office, the Seminole County Board of County Commissioners, and the Seminole County Safe and Drug-Free Schools.

The winning posters, reproduced in full color, deck the pages of the calendars which will be distributed free to all public and private school children in the fifth- through eighth-grade classes, the same classes that participated in the contest. Additionally, the winning essay will run full-length in the calendar. All of the posters and the essay present a message created by the young artists that focuses on remaining drug- and alcohol-free. Both the banquet and the calendar production are paid for with money recovered during drug arrests and through community donations.

This year, four of the poster winners were from Rock Lake Middle School, including the grand prize winning poster which will be on the cover. Two winning students were from Teague Middle and the remaining winning students were from Rainbow Elementary, Wilson Elementary, Highlands Elementary, Milwee Middle, Lawton Chiles Middle, Indian Trails Middle, and Millennium Middle schools. The winning essayist is from Sanford Middle School.

“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 see all of these bright colors and sincere messages on these posters. We have a great future ahead of us,'' said State Attorney Wolfinger.

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