No Name-Calling Week 2006 Creative Expression Contest Winners Announced

Jan 11, 2006

More than 1,300 students submitted entries for this year’s contest

New York, NY - GLSEN, Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing and the No Name-Calling Week Coalition of more than forty national organizations are proud to announce the 2006 winners for the Creative Expression Contest for Students.

The Creative Expression Contest is an annual opportunity for students to submit essays, poetry, music, original artwork, or other creative expressions that convey their experiences and feelings about name-calling and bullying in their schools. More than 1,300 students aged 8 – 18 from all across the country submitted original entries.

This year’s Grand Prize is being awarded to Christopher Oliver of Cool Spring Elementary School in Mechanicsville, Virginia, for his imaginative collage. Christopher is a third grade student in Mrs. Nelson’s Cool Spring’s class. This year approximately one-third of the participants in the No Name-Calling Week Creative Expression Contest were in elementary school.

To view Christopher’s winning collage, along with other notable entries, please visit: http://www.nonamecallingweek.org/cgi-bin/iowa/all/news/record/45.html.

“We are so proud of Christopher and his accomplishment. And we are equally proud of all of our students who took part in this opportunity to think about how the ideals of No Name-Calling Week can be celebrated year round,” said Dr. Paula Brown, Principal of Cool Spring Elementary School.

Second and third prizewinners are Rose Michel from MS 88 in Brooklyn, New York, and Lara Mitra from Sidwell Friends in Washington, D.C.

“This year, we were overwhelmed by the quantity and quality of entries in the No Name-Calling Week 2006 Creative Expression Contest,” said Brooke Wiese, Education Director at GLSEN who will help present Christopher’s award along with members of the No Name-Calling Week Coalition and corporate sponsor Cisco Systems.

“The committee congratulates the thousands of elementary, middle and high school students and the hundreds of teachers, counselors and principals who made the judging process this year overwhelmingly rewarding. This year’s entries show a surprising amount of sophistication about the problem of name-calling and bullying from the perspective of nearly every grade level,” said Wiese.

Christopher Oliver will receive a school visit during No Name-Calling Week from James Howe, popular author of The Misfits, from which No Name-Calling Week gets its name, Bunnicula, and The Watcher along with a cash prize and a collection of books. Second and third prize winners will receive a set of books from Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing and cash prizes. All three winners will get a No Name-Calling Week project kit for their school (including curriculum guide, video, copy of The Misfits, posters and stickers).

The contest committee also awarded 5 Runners-Up, 20 Honorable Mentions and 5 Special Recognitions. The runners-up are Taneum Bambrick from Morgan Middle School in Ellensburg, WA, Hannah Polizzi from St. Francis DeSales School in Sherman Oaks, CA, Sam Schlegel from Edgewood Middle School in Highland Park, IL, Ian Sleeper from Winnisquam Regional Middle School in Tilton, NH, and Marie Story from St. Francis DeSales School in Sherman Oaks, CA. To view the winning entries, visit http://www.nonamecallingweek.org/cgi-bin/iowa/all/news/record/45.html.

No Name Calling Week, now in its third year, officially kicks off in schools nationwide January 23 – 27. The project, aimed at grades five through eight, seeks to draw national attention to the problem of name-calling in America’s schools and to provide students and educators with tools to launch an on-going dialogue about ways to eliminate name-calling in their communities. With nearly 6000 educators and administrators having registered to take part, this year’s event should have even greater participation. Results from 2004 bullying surveys in schools indicated that students reported a significant decrease in the amount of bullying and harassment in school after taking part in the first No Name-Calling Week and its activities.

No Name-Calling Week 2006 is made possible in large part by a generous grant from Cisco Systems. Additional funding is provided by The Peter and Carmen Lucia Buck Foundation.

For a complete list of the national partners, sample resources and more information on No Name-Calling Week, continue to visit www.nonamecallingweek.org. Media inquiries can be sent to press@nonamecallingweek.org.

About No Name-Calling Week
Coordinated by GLSEN in collaboration with over 40 national education organizational partners, No Name-Calling Week is an annual week of educational activities aimed at ending name-calling of all kinds and providing schools with the tools and inspiration to launch an on-going dialogue about ways to eliminate bullying in their communities. For more information about No Name-Calling Week sponsors, a list of events planned, or the No Name-Calling Week resource kit for educators, please continue to visit www.nonamecallingweek.org.