Metra Announces 5th Annual Safety Poster Contest

Metra has announced its 5th annual Safety Poster Contest. This year's  theme is Safety First: Look, Listen and Live.

One first-, second- and third-place winner will be selected from each grade, K-12, and awarded the following prizes: first, notebook computer; second, $250 gift card; and third, $100 gift card. Third-grader Emma Soltis from Chelsea Intermediate School in Frankfort and seventh-grader Matthew Zdun from Cardinal Joseph Bernardin School in Orland Hills were among last year's first-place winners.

In addition, winning designs will be distributed to more than 2,000 schools in northeastern Illinois, featured in Metra's Safety Calendar, on the contest Web site, in station displays and on monthly tickets.

Metra will recognize the school that submits the most entries in the contest by awarding it a new computer compatible with its current system. Every school's entries will be totaled after the contest deadline on March 15 and a computer will be presented to the winning school. Last year's winning school was Grande Prairie Elementary in Frankfort.

Students are also invited to enter the 3rd annual Metra Safety Essay Contest. Participants are asked to say in 300 words or less why it is important to put "Safety First" when near trains and railroad tracks.

A complete listing of all contest rules and guidelines as well as downloadable entry forms, logos and poster templates is at www.metracontest.com. Completed contest entry can also be submitted through the Web site.