NORTHAMPTON — The Daily Hampshire Gazette is seeking creative people to participate in a contest promoting civic responsibility.
The blank letters V-O-T-E will be printed in the Gazette, rotating a different letter each day starting Saturday through Sept. 28. Contest participants are invited to decorate or embellish the blank letters with any medium they choose.
After judges have chosen their four favorite letters, the Gazette’s art and photography departments will use them to create a VOTE! poster.
The community-wide project aims to encourage local participation in the Nov. 8 presidential election, said Laurel Gardner, the Gazette’s director of News in Education (NIE), a program dedicated to promoting both civics and literacy through the use of news media.
NIE at the Gazette has taken on a much different role than when it began as a way to educate young people about newspapers, said Michael Rifanburg, publisher of the Pioneer Valley newspapers for Newspapers of New England. In addition to the Gazette, they are The Recorder, Amherst Bulletin and the Valley Advocate.
The Gazette plays an active role in educating readers on the political process and the candidates, using a variety of print and web formats, Rifanburg said.
Gardner added that the NIE program is one piece of that, and the staff becomes more excited about that work each election year.
“Voting is a right that we should hold dear,” Gardner said.
Beginning Oct. 15, the winning poster will be featured in the Gazette five times before the Nov. 8 presidential election.
Adults and children are invited to participate.
The idea for the contest grew from a suggestion made in 2008 by a League of Women Voters member. That member had contacted Gardner regarding a partnership on something related to that year’s election and suggested running a poster contest in local schools.
Ultimately the Amherst League of Women Voters and News In Education instead collaborated on an educational supplement called “Electing the President,” which was published in the newspaper that year.
But in the years since, Gardner said she kept coming back to the poster idea and finally realized a community-wide project was the right approach.
“Voting is right up there with death and taxes in this society,” she said. “It’s one of those things that are part of the fabric of our lives.”
The League of Women Voters of the Northampton Area has partnered with the Gazette to conduct the contest.
“I just feel like not enough people take part in the voting process,” Rifanburg said. “If you have an opinion, you should vote accordingly.”
He sees the contest as a fun way to increase voter participation – a goal Gardner said aligns with the integral role newspapers play in keeping the public well-informed.
Participants can submit entries featuring a single letter or all four, as many times as they wish. More specific instructions will accompany the blank letters. The entries, which can be mailed to or dropped off at the Gazette, are due by 5 p.m. Sept. 30.
Sarah Crosby can be reached at scrosby@gazettenet.com.