First Lady Ann LePage Announces Maine is ME Student Art Challenge

First Lady partners with the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy to create Love.Read.Learn!™ Baby Journal

Augusta, Maine - First Lady Ann LePage is announcing the Maine is ME Student Art Challenge, in partnership with the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy. The challenge is for Maine students, in grades K-8. The First Lady is asking students to submit an original work of art depicting what living in Maine means to you. Artwork may be inspired by a wide range of images from favorite Maine places, outdoor activities, foods and state symbols, as well as families having fun together.

Selected artwork will be featured in the First Lady’s upcoming new family friendly Love.Read.Learn!™ Baby Journal, produced in partnership with the Barbara Bush Foundation. The journal is a scrapbook-style booklet to promote literacy and health to families of newborn babies in Maine. The baby journal will be provided at no cost to parents of newborns in 2012-2013.

“This baby journal will be given as a keepsake gift to Maine moms and dads to help them become the first and best teachers to their child,” said First Lady Ann LePage. “The Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy has done a tremendous amount of work for Maine families, and I thank them for giving Maine families this opportunity,” continued the First Lady.

“We are incredibly excited to be partnering with First Lady LePage and the talented students of Maine to create a beautifully illustrated baby journal for families across the state,” said Barbara Bush. “We know reading benefits a child in so many ways - from language comprehension and vocabulary development to heightened creativity and family bonding – this journal will be a wonderful way for parents to start their child out on the path of learning.”

All selected artists must be a Maine student (grades K-8), during the 2012-2013 school year, and be a legal resident of Maine at the time of his/her application.

Entries must be postmarked by October 30, 2012 and the winners are expected to be notified during the week of November 12, 2012. Entries can be sent to the Blaine House – Maine is ME Art Challenge, c/o Paula Benoit, 192 State Street, Augusta, ME 04330.

Students must return the student-parents forms with their artwork. Art Challenge guidelines and parent consent forms are available online at www.maine.gov/governor/lepage/family/first_lady.shtml as well as www.BarbaraBushFoundation.com.

For more information about the Barbara Bush Foundation please contact Elizabeth Hirst at 850-562-5300 or by email at Elizabeth@barbarabushfoundation.com.