The Child Development Agency (CDA) is inviting children from across the island to capture through art, key factors of child protection, by participating in its 10th Anniversary poster competition, under the theme ‘Protecting Children, Transforming Lives, Securing the Future’.

The competition which will run from June to September 2014 is opened to children in Jamaica, in three age categories. These include from six to eight years, nine to 13 years, and 14 to 17 years, who are enrolled in primary or preparatory, and secondary schools; as well as children within child care institutions in Jamaica.

Public Relations and Communications Manager, Prudence Barnes said that the competition comes at a time when the Agency is commemorating 10 years of existence, and as such, it aims to incorporate children from all walks of life in matters relating to child protection.

“The competition is geared towards engaging children in depicting, through art, their views on key issues surrounding child protection and the role of the Agency. What we want is to see how creative our children are in capturing the various themes, because while the competition aims to bring out their creativity, it will also allow us to have an idea of their views on key issues,” she said.

This is also in keeping with the Agency’s thrust to promote child participation which is a right accorded to children in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, Barnes said.

The topics for the competition are: ‘Parents and communities play an important role in protecting the rights of children’; ‘My Vision of a Jamaica fit for Children is…’, and CDA’s tagline and 10th Anniversary theme, ‘Protecting Children, Transforming Lives, Securing the Future’.

Children entering the competition must be within the specified age range, and are required to use materials such as paints, crayons, pencils, coloured pencils, charcoal, pastels, magic markers, watercolours, ink or any combination of these media.

Importantly, all art work must be original, and accompanied by a completed entry form, and can be submitted to any CDA Office, islandwide, before the deadline on September 30.

Prizes will be awarded to the first and second place winners in all three categories.

For more information, persons can visit the Agency’s website at www.cda.gov.jm, or the Agency’s facebook page or by contacting any of the Agency’s offices islandwide.