Positive Directions, in collaboration with representatives from the towns of Westport, Weston and Wilton and the State of CT announced today the winners of the tri-town poster and billboard contest “Want to See Your Art in Lights?! (Headlights that is!)”.  The winning posters were selected from numerous submissions by 7th through 12th graders in the 3 towns, who responded to the opportunity to illustrate ‘why teens shouldn’t drink’ as part of an ongoing initiative targeting underage drinking.

A winning poster from each town was selected and from those three, one was chosen to be reproduced on an area billboard.  The winning artists from each town are:  Westport – Maeve Flaherty, Weston – Ross Jespersen; Wilton – Margalit Cutler.  Maeve Flaherty’s poster “Brain Dead, Think Don’t Drink” was the one selected to be reproduced on a billboard.  All three students will be awarded a cash prize of $400.  The posters will be displayed on a rotating basis within the towns of Wilton, Westport and Weston in coming months and the billboard, located in Norwalk at New Canaan Avenue and Main Street, will be displayed during the month of March. 

“This was our first youth contest and we were very impressed with the level of both artistic skill and the knowledge regarding the topic of underage drinking among all of the entrants”, commented Pam Kelley, of Positive Directions.  “The messages the students conveyed in their posters shows they have a real grasp of the serious consequences of underage drinking.”

The contest was sponsored by Positive Directions in collaboration with the United Way of Coastal Fairfield County; Westport’s Positive Youth Development; Wilton Youth Services and Weston Youth and Social Services.  All sponsors are members of the tri-town coalition to target underage drinking funded by a Strategic Prevention Framework grant from the State of CT Department of Mental Health and Addictive Services.