State's Attorney Holding Heroin Awareness Art Contest

From the Will County State’s Attorney’s Office:

The Will County State’s Attorney’s Office will host an art contest for high school students to raise awareness in the community about the deadly dangers of using heroin.

The contest, open to any student who attends a Will County high school, will provide valuable college scholarships for the three winners whose artwork best illustrates the horrific consequences of using heroin.

The First Place Winner will receive a $3,000 scholarship for a university, college, trade school or other post-high school educational institution. Second and Third Place Winners will receive $2,000 and $1,000 scholarships respectively.

In addition, the winning work will be reproduced and featured prominently in an updated version of State’s Attorney James Glasgow’s Gang Awareness and Prevention Book, scheduled for release later in this year. The First Place Winner’s work will be placed on the entire back cover of the book.

Participating high schools must designate a school representative to coordinate submissions for the contest with the Will County State’s Attorney’s Office. High school art programs may incorporate the project into their curricula. Students also may work independently, provided their work is submitted through a designated school representative.

“The purpose of this contest is to involve our young people in raising awareness about the heroin scourge that is destroying so many lives and killing so many people, not just in Will County, but across our Nation,” Glasgow said. “I hope participating students will first educate themselves about the horrendous dangers of using heroin, and then use their knowledge to create an original piece of artwork that drives home the message for people of all ages.”

In Will County last year, 51 people died from heroin overdoses. It was the second highest number of heroin-related overdose deaths for a one-year period in the county’s history. For the past six years, Glasgow has been working with organizations like HERO, HELPS, and the Southwest Coalition for Substance Abuse Issues to coordinate annual heroin education summits that seek solutions to the heroin epidemic.

The scholarships for the art contest will be funded through money seized from criminals who were engaged in narcotics trafficking.

“I can think of no better way to spend money that otherwise would have been used to pump deadly poison onto our streets than to redirect these resources toward an educational campaign aimed directly at eliminating the market for heroin,” Glasgow said. “The theme of this art contest is deadly serious. Any students who participate can say they contributed an important voice to this cause.”

The deadline for submissions is 5 p.m. April 8. Winners will be announced the week of April 25. For a complete list of contest rules, visit www.willcountysao.com.