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Poster Contest Details
Who Can Enter?
Students may enter through their school or community group such as 4H and scouts. Each student may only submit one entry.
Designing the Poster
Classroom teachers work with their students to design a poster, following 
the guidelines below. In addition to their poster, students 3rd through 12th grade will be required to answer the following questions:
- What is the name of the endangered species you have chosen and what habitat does it live in?
- What are the main threats to this animal/plant and its habitat?
- How can we help protect this animal/plant and its habitat?
An endangered species teacher resource pack is available to support implementation in the classroom. This important teaching aid includes lesson activities across different curriculums, suitable web sites and resources, and entry details for the contest. Download a free Resource Pack.
Poster Specifications
- Students must design an 8½” x 11” poster containing a picture and a message about one threatened or endangered species. It should encourage people to care about endangered plants and animals and want to protect them. A very short simple message is best for a poster so that it is easy to see and sticks in people’s minds.
- The poster may be designed on any kind of paper, including card stock. Students may be as creative as they wish. The poster may be in any medium including collage, free-hand drawing, paint, charcoal or pencil. Chalk, charcoal, and pastel must be sealed with a fixative spray to prevent smearing and smudging. Photography, 3D designs and computer-generated images and text are excluded. Three-dimensional entries will not be accepted.
- All posters should be backed with construction paper leaving a two-inch frame around the edges.
- Only the original poster can be submitted into the competition, no photocopies.
- Each poster should reflect the student’s own idea, reflecting the theme. The teacher may assist young children with writing down the message on their poster, but the message must be the child’s own thoughts and all artwork must be the child’s own work.
- All posters will become the property of the NC Zoo.
- Any incomplete entry (e.g. no research submitted for grades 3 – 12) or entry not following these specifications, will be disqualified from final judging.
Submitting Entries
Schools will first hold a school-based competition, and choose first, second and third place in the following divisions.
- Division 1 – Kindergarten – 2nd Grade
- Division 2 – 3rd – 5th Grade
- Division 3 – 6th – 8th Grade
- Division 4 – 9th – 12th Grade
For the first place winner of each division, please complete an entry form and attach it to the back of the original artwork with a paperclip. Posters will not be returned. Take a photo or copy of your poster before submitting it.
Competition coordinators should take photographs or color copies of the 3 winning entries in each division and submit them on the group results form. This form will be used to issue certificates to those students. Please do not send originals for 2nd and 3rd place to the zoo.
Folded posters will not be accepted. Artwork should be rolled and shipped in a mailing tube or be packed and wrapped flat. Please read the poster contest rules carefully, as only posters that meet the contest rules will be considered. Send your posters to the following address:
Endangered Species Poster Competition
NC Zoo Education Division
4401 Zoo Parkway
Asheboro, NC 27205
Deadline
Posters must be postmarked on or before the second Friday in December. Winners will be notified by mail.
Judging Procedure
The posters will be grouped in one of the following four grade categories:
- Kindergarten through 2nd Grade
- 3rd through 5th Grade
- 6th through 8th Grade
- 9th through 12th Grade
Posters will be judged by a committee of zoo staff and community representatives. The winning poster and runner-up in each grade category will be judged based on the criteria listed below.
Judging Criteria
- Clear message conveyed by the text and artwork.
- How significant or relevant is the poster in increasing understanding of an endangered species?
- Does it communicate the message to a broad audience?
- Did the artist use a catchy slogan or message?
- Creativity, originality and artistic quality.
- Is the design creative and original?
- Does the selected media enhance the presentation of the overall artistic quality?
- Visual clarity — easily read.
- Visual use of space - Is the poster clearly and logically set out?
- Is the text easy to read?
- Research
- Clarity of information – all questions were answered in clear sentences
- Was the information accurate?
Winners
One winner will be chosen in each division. All winning entries will be 
combined to create an Endangered Species Awareness Poster. The poster will be sent to participating schools and used in conjunction with the zoo’s education programs. Winning posters in each division will be displayed on the zoos web site.
The overall winner of each division will receive a prize pack including a family pass to the zoo, an endangered species poster and an educational program for their classroom.
For more information on the Endangered Species Poster Competition, Email or Phone (336) 879-7715 or toll free 1-800-488-0444 ext. 7715