The City of Brighton is once again participating in the annual Arbor Day Fifth Grade Poster Contest, an artistic competition for public, private and home-schooled fifth graders across the state. This year’s theme is The Superpowers of Trees. This is an opportunity for students to show their creativity to raise awareness about trees and the important role they play in the environment and our quality of life. The contest is statewide but will also be held at the city level in Brighton. The winner of each Brighton school will move on to the state contest and their posters will be put on display at the Denver Botanic Gardens.  

1st Place 

Student: The winning student will be introduced to Brighton City Council on April 15 at City Hall. They will also receive passes to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, as well as passes to the Brighton Oasis Family Aquatic Park and a free tree. 

Teacher: The teacher of the winning student will be offered a free tree.* 

Class: All students in the winning class will receive a tree seedling.** 

School: Arbor Day will be celebrated at the school with the winning entry, where the winning class gets to help plant a tree for their school in late April. 

2nd Place 

Student: The second-place prize includes passes to the Brighton Oasis Family Aquatic Park as well as a free tree. 

Submission requirements:  

• One entry per student
• Must be an original artwork created by a fifth-grade student
• Entries should be done on 12-inch x 18-inch paper (or as close as possible to those measurements)

• The poster must relate to the contest theme, “Trees for Wildlife Habitat” must be on the poster, and all words must be legible and spelled correctly 
• Entries may be done in marker, crayon, paint pens, watercolor, ink, acrylic, colored pencil, and/or tempera paint
• Entries must be done on paper, which allows for duplication, display, and framing
• Student’s name, grade, school, teacher’s name and contact phone number must be printed on the back of the poster in pencil
• Student’s first and last name must be written in the lower right-hand corner of the front of the poster

Not accepted:  

• Collages - please do not glue anything onto your poster
• Computer or photo-generated art and printing
• Matted, mounted, laminated, framed, or folded entries
• Names of commercial products, companies, and/or organizations
• Artwork completed by more than one artist

Entries become the property of the Colorado Tree Coalition and may not be returned. The deadline to submit an entry is Tuesday, March 25. 

*We will do our best to accommodate tree species preference, but options may be limited due to varying supply. Trees are in containers and roughly 5-8 feet tall. 

**Seedlings should be available on the day of the Arbor Day celebration, but due to weather and other variables, they could be delayed. 

For more information or to submit an entry, please contact Adam Rhodebeck, City of Brighton Forester, at ajrhodebeck@brightonco.gov or 303-655-2048.