The National School Bus Safety Poster Contest is sponsored each year by the National Association for Pupil Transportation, the National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services and the National School Transportation Association. 

The national contest is open only to winners of state/province contests or contests held by overseas United States military installations. No other posters are accepted. 

The Kansas State Pupil Transportation Association and the Kansas State Department of Education School Bus Safety Unit sponsor the state-level contest for Kansas. Please don’t mail posters directly to the National Association of Pupil Transportation as they must be judged at the state level first. 

State contest - who may enter?

• Any student enrolled in a Kansas public, parochial or other private elementary or middle school (plus high school for Divisions 4 and 5 only) may enter. Any Kansas student who is a member of a US military family stationed overseas may also submit artwork to the Kansas School Bus Safety Poster Contest. A poster must win at the state level to be entered into the national contest. 

 

When can posters be drawn?

• Posters can be drawn anytime between Oct. 14, 2022, and March 1, 2023. Posters must be received in Topeka no later than March 10, 2023. 

 

Categories:

• Division #1 - Grades K-2 
• Division #2 - Grades 3-5 
• Division #3 - Grades 6-8 
• Division #4 – Special Education – Grades K-12 
• Division #5 – CAD (Computer Aided Drawing) 
• Division #6 – International entries 

*Divisions #5 and Division #6 are eligible for competition within those respective divisions but are not eligible to be the overall contest winner at the national level. 

 

Poster theme:

Safely Rolling to My Destination 

Every poster and slogan must harmonize with the 2022-23 poster contest theme. 

• Contestants must illustrate the theme only. The theme on the poster must be exactly as shown. 
• If the theme is not written exactly as shown, it will be disqualified. 
• Drawings must be original, correct in safety concept and the exclusive work of the student entering the contest in idea, design and execution. All artwork should be positive in approach, demonstrating only proper school bus safety behaviors. 
• At least a part of a yellow school bus must be present in the poster. 

 

Criteria for the selection of award-winning posters: 

• Safety impact: Relationship of the poster design to the school bus safety practices. 
• Originality of the poster and how the theme idea is expressed in the poster design 
• Artwork and its execution 
• Visual impact of the poster design 

 

Prizes:

Prizes will be awarded for each division as follows at the state level: 

• Each first-place division winner will receive a plaque and a check for $50. Their teacher (as listed on their entry form) will receive a check for $25 toward the purchase of classroom materials. 
• State winners will be notified by May 1, 2023, and will be recognized at the School Transportation Safety Conference in June 2023. 

 

Prizes will be awarded for each division as follows at the national level:

• First-place and overall winner: $500 
• First-place winners of remaining three divisions: $250 
• Second-place winners of each four divisions: $100 
• Third-place winners of each four divisions: $50 
• First-place winner – CAD division: $50 
• First-place winner – International division: $50 

The first-place/overall winning poster will be used to promote National School Bus Safety Week in October 2023. The NSBSW Committee has the right to disqualify any entry that does not comply with all contest requirements. 

 

Poster specifications: 

• IMPORTANT - Completed poster size must be 11” X 17” or 12” X 18” 
• Posters may be illustrated on the vertical or horizontal axis. 
• Don't roll or fold posters. They must be mailed/delivered flat. DO NOT place name, school, etc., on the front of the poster. 
• Designs should be submitted on quality tag, poster illustration board or heavy paper.
• Construction paper may be used but entries must be mounted on quality tag poster.
• Lamination is not permitted and will disqualify the poster. 
• Cut paper/stencils (freehand or pre-drawn stencils) are not permitted and will disqualify the poster. 
• There is no limitation on the use and number of colors. 
• There is no limitation on the type of media, such as print, crayon, felt pen, etc., used on the poster design. However, wood, glass or metal should not be part of the poster. 
• Collage materials should not be used. Glued on pieces will eliminate the poster. 
• Poster designs may not incorporate any copyrighted materials (i.e., comic and/or television characters), including stock artwork, meaning photographs or other images of common places, landmarks, nature, events or people, clip art, meaning anything from an existing collection of pictures or images that can be imported from or into the poster; and nonoriginal raster graphics or vector graphics. 

 

Letters and drawings:

• The poster design may incorporate ffreehand-drawnletters only. 
• Cut paper/stencils (freehand or pre-drawn, stick-on stencils) may not be used and will disqualify the poster. 
• Lettering should be clearly legible, even if used as part of the poster design. 
• Please refrain from having slogan lettering run off the edge of the paper. 

 

Submitting posters for state judging: 

• Don’t mail posters to The National Association for Pupil Transportation. Posters must first be submitted for state-leveljudging 
• Don’t roll or fold posters. They must be mailed/delivered flat 
• Don’t place name, school, etc., on the front of the poster. Display information on the back only using the official entry card located on the last page of this document. 
• Posters must be postmarked no later than March 9, 2023. 

The official entry form found on the last page of these instructions must be completed in its entirety and fastened to the back of the poster. Please print clearly. 

 

Mail posters to:

Kansas State Department of Education 

Attn: School Bus Safety Unit 

900 SW Jackson, Suite 102 

Topeka, KS 66612-1212 

Posters submitted for the school bus safety poster contest become the property of KSPTA/KSDE/NAPT and will not be returned. 

 

Official card/entry form: 

• The official entry card must be fastened to the back of the poster using Scotch tape only. Please print clearly. 
• Don’t place this information on the front of the poster. 
• Display on the back only.