Nevada Radon Poster Contest open to state students, offers cash prizes

RENO — University of Nevada Cooperative Extension invites Nevada students to showcase their artistic talents and promote radon awareness by entering the Nevada Radon Poster Contest.

The contest is open to all children ages 9 to 14 years old enrolled in public, private, territorial, tribal, Department of Defense and home schools. Children can also enter through a sponsoring group, such as art, computer, library, reading, science, scouting, youth or 4-H clubs.

Radon is a radioactive, colorless, odorless and tasteless gas that comes from the decay of uranium. It accumulates in homes and can cause lung cancer. This type of lung cancer risk is preventable, and the only way to know if a home has elevated levels is to test for it.

The poster contest is part of the Nevada Radon Education Program and is sponsored by Cooperative Extension and the Nevada Division of Public and Behavioral Health. Cooperative Extension works to raise awareness of the dangers of radon in the homes by providing educational presentations and low- cost radon test kits. Since 2008, more than 21,014 homes in Nevada were tested. Of 17,255 valid test results collected, 4,549 have elevated radon levels. Once radon is detected, there are fairly easy, inexpensive ways to reduce the radon exposure and reduce the risk of lung cancer.

Posters in this year’s Nevada Radon Poster Contest should convey one of these messages: 1) What is radon? 2) Where does radon come from? 3) How does radon get into our homes? 4) Radon can cause lung cancer, and 5) Test your home for radon. Posters will be judged on content accuracy, visual communication of the topic, reproducibility and originality. They can be created with crayons, markers, paint, collage, pencils, photographs or computer graphics. There is no fee to enter, but each child is limited to one entry. Entries must be received at 4955 Energy Way in Reno by Oct. 31.

Cash prizes are $75 for first place, $60 for second and $45 for third. The top three entries are also awarded cash prizes for their teachers or sponsoring organization’s representative.

To better help students comprehend the dangers of radon and the rules of the contest, the Nevada Radon Education Program will offer radon presentations to interested school or community groups in Washoe, Douglas and Carson City counties. Interested groups should contact Jamie Roice-Gomes, radon education coordinator for Cooperative Extension, at 775-336-0252 or roicej@unce.unr.edu to schedule a presentation or for more information on the contest. For more information on the dangers of radon and the Nevada Radon Education Program, visit www.RadonNV.com or call the Radon Hotline at 1-888-Radon10 (888-723-6610).