STATEHOUSE (Jan. 20, 2011) - Sen. Jim Banks (R-Columbia City) encourages area high school students to participate in a contest sponsored by Indiana Right to Life where students can display their vision of life’s value through artwork or photography.

“This contest will not only give students the ability to show their creativity, but offers them the opportunity to find what they value most,” Banks said.

Art and photo entries will be judged during Right to Life’s “Student Day at the Legislature” – an educational experience for middle and high school students to observe the legislative process. Banks said students will learn from pro-life legislators about lawmaking and key legislation in the 2011 session of the Indiana General Assembly.

Banks said contest entries are to be inspired by Psalm 139:13-16, “You created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. …All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”

Indiana’s Right to Life encourages students to encompass “the celebration and acceptance of life, regardless of one’s age or circumstance.”

Banks said student art and photos should meet several criteria before submission:

• Students must submit their own work;

• All artwork and photos must be 8×10 inches not including the required black matte. Entries must then be mounted to a foam board or poster board;

• Entry forms are to be attached securely to the back of mounted submissions;

• Name/signature may not be displayed on the front of the picture; and

• Photographs for the contest can be altered using software like Adobe Photoshop, but may not include another artist’s or photographer’s work.

The deadline for submission is 5 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 4 and can be mailed or delivered to the Allen County Right to Life office located at 3409 Conestoga Dr., Fort Wayne, IN, 46818. Students are permitted to submit multiple entries.

Winners will be chosen on Thursday, Feb. 10, during ‘Student Day’ at the Indiana Statehouse and will receive $100 for first place, $50 for second place and $25 for third place.

Pro-life legislators, including Banks, will select art or photographs from the entries to be displayed in their offices for one year.

Entry forms can be found in the brochure, available at www.ichooselife.org. There participants can click on the ‘Current Events’ tab and choose ‘Student Day/ Art and Photo Contest.’ For more information please call Judy Feichter at the Allen County Right to Life office at 260-471-1849.

Banks said the utmost care will be given to all entries however “Focus on Life” cannot assume any responsibility for the damage or loss of entries in transit.