CURTIS -- Three area students were recognized by the Middle Republican Natural Resources District (NRD) for their creativity and understanding of water conservation. Haley Hrnchir (Trenton) http://www.mrnrd.org/img/education/Haley..., Chase Chrisman (Wallace) http://www.mrnrd.org/img/education/Chase..., and Mickayla Sheets (Wallace) http://www.mrnrd.org/img/education/Micka... were finalists in the NRD Conservation Poster contest.

The annual Poster Contest provides kindergarten through twelfth grade students an opportunity to convey their thoughts about soil, water and related natural resource issues through art. It also highlights the educational outreach efforts of teachers, conservation districts, and state conservation associations, auxiliaries and agencies.

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Each year, the poster contest starts at the district level. Students in Frontier, Hayes, Hitchcock, portion of Lincoln, and Red Willow Counties are invited to participate in the contest as part of the National Association of Conservation Districts Soil and Water Stewardship Week. The students follow a specific conservation theme. The 2008 theme is "Water Is Life." The theme demonstrates the value of water in all life and the many ways that wildlife and people use and depend on clean, available water. With all the focus on water over the past few years, these area students were well equipped to share water wise information in their posters.

Posters are judged for their conservation message, visual effectiveness, originality, and universal appeal. Middle Republican NRD contest winners are then entered in competition with posters from other NRD's around Nebraska. The winner of the state competition is submitted in the National Conservation poster contest. Winners in the local contest receive $10, state competition winners receive a $50 savings bond, and the national poster contest winner takes home $100.

Winning posters and those receiving honorable mentions will be displayed at this year's county fairs throughout the District.

The Conservation Poster Contest is co-sponsored by the Middle Republican NRD, Nebraska Association of Resources Districts, National Association of Conservation Districts and the NACD Auxiliary in cooperation with the Washington County Soil Conservation District in Maryland.