Contributed by Daniel Tranter, MPH
The Minnesota Department of Health sponsored our first radon poster contest in over a decade. We started late with a timeframe of two months in fall 2023. A limited marketing plan was quickly put in place that included reaching out to MN teachers, a social media promotion, using gov delivery to promote to our partners, and distributing flyers at events.
After the contest started, we finally received permission to offer prizes, including a first-place prize of a $100 gift card, 2nd place $75, and 3rd place $50. A webpage was developed as a landing page where contestants could go to receive information. Toward the end of the poster contest we recruited five judges from our unit. A selection matrix was created, and posters were given points on creativity, visual communication of the topic, reproducibility, originality, and no grammatical errors.
We received 66 entrants. We selected our top three. After contacting the winners, we had them submit a media permission form. We did a January 2024 press release that included the names of the three winners and our website about the winning posters. We printed out the three posters in large format for use in different media events, including a press conference, and one of the winners did an interview for a local news station. The MN winner was also selected the winner of the national contest. We plan to continue this poster contest annually.
Poster contest website: https://www.health.state.mn.us/communities/environment/air/radon/postercontest.html
Daniel Tranter, MPH
Supervisor | Indoor Air Unit
Minnesota Department of Health
United States