Canton student earns top honors in statewide anti-tobacco poster contest

Contest heightens awareness of the dangers of tobacco and smoking

 Waltham, Mass. – May 24  – Aadya Deshmukh, a first-grade student at the John F. Kennedy School in Canton, has won top honors in the 2013 Anti-Tobacco Poster Contest, an annual educational event to alert schoolchildren to the dangers of tobacco and smoking sponsored by the Massachusetts Medical Society and its Alliance.

Deshmukh was one of just 12 winners selected from more than 3,700 entries to the competition. Her entry, entitled You smoke - you get sick; you smoke - we get sick too, highlighted the dangers of second-hand smoke.

The competition is open to youngster in grades 1-6 throughout Massachusetts and asks students to create an original poster that ties in with certain themes for their grade. The themes by grades are: Grades 1 and 2: Show how tobacco is bad for your body; Grades 3 and 4: Show how using tobacco affects other people; Grades 5 and 6: Why I won’t start. Four entries are selected in each category, and the winning entries are chosen on the basis of originality, artistic merit, and relevance to the theme for the grades.

Winners were honored at a special May 21 event at the Massachusetts State House in Boston, where they received a certificate from the Medical Society and a gift card for books as prizes. Winning entries will also be included in a 2014 calendar produced by the Medical Society that will be distributed to schools, pediatricians, and family physicians across the Commonwealth.

Presenting the awards were South Shore Cardiologist Ronald Dunlap, M.D., President of the Massachusetts Medical Society; South Shore Hospital Physiatrist Janet Kent, M.D., a member of the Medical Society’s Committee on Student Health and Sports Medicine; and Paula Madison, President of the MMS Alliance.

This year marked the 18^th year that the Massachusetts Medical Society has conducted the contest. To view the winning entries, visit www.massmed.org/tobacco

About the MMS  The Massachusetts Medical Society, with more than 24,000 physicians and student members, is dedicated to educating and advocating for the patients and physicians of Massachusetts. The Society publishes the New England Journal of Medicine, a leading global medical journal and web site, and Journal Watch alerts and newsletters covering 13 specialties. The Society is also a leader in continuing medical education for health care professionals throughout Massachusetts, conducting a variety of medical education programs for physicians and health care professionals. Founded in 1781, MMS is the oldest continuously operating medical society in the country. For more information please visit www.massmed.org, www.nejm.org, or www.jwatch.org.  The MMS Alliance is the organization of physicians’ spouses committed to promoting good health among the citizens of Massachusetts and to advancing the health and well being of the medical family. ###