FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 10, 2009

CONTACT: Mark Daley (202) 416-7681
Sheila Skipper (202) 416-7654

Students from Illinois and Kentucky Win Paralyzed Veterans of America Veterans Day Poster & Essay Contest

Washington, DC - Paralyzed Veterans of America (Paralyzed Veterans) proudly announces the winners of its sixth annual Veterans Day Poster and Essay Contest: Brianna Ewing of Ft. Mitchell, Kentucky, who won the grand prize for her poster submission; and Kristen Brennan of Chicago, Illinois who won the grand prize for her essay entry. Students were asked to submit posters and essays that expressed the theme “Veterans Day: Why I’m Grateful for Our Nations Veterans.”

Ewing, a student at Blessed Sacrament Catholic School, and Brennan, who attends St. Cajetan Catholic School, traveled to Washington, DC, with family members to attend the Veterans Day observances at Arlington National Cemetery and Paralyzed Veterans’ Veterans Day reception, where they received their awards.

“Congratulations to Brianna and Kristen for their winning entries. They did our nation’s veterans proud,” said Paralyzed Veterans’ National President Gene A. Crayton. “I would also like to thank all those students who entered the contest. As you might expect, all the entries were inspiring, heartfelt, sometimes humorous, and always deeply touching.”

Paralyzed Veterans launched the contest as a way to creatively and actively involve the nation’s youth in the celebration of Veterans Day and to promote greater awareness of America’s 26 million veterans and the sacrifices they have made to ensure the freedoms we enjoy daily.

The winners from each grade category are:

• Poster 1st & 2nd grade: Noah Dobbins, McNair Elementary School (Ft. Bragg, NC);   
• Poster 3rd & 4th grade: Savana Chabert, Holy Rosary Catholic School (LaRose, LA); 
• Essay 5th & 6th grade: Casey Wilson, Patrick Henry Elementary School (Arlington, VA);
• Essay 7th & 8th grade: Gracie McDermott, Kiski Area Intermediate School (Vandergrift, PA). 

Each of these category winners will receive a special plaque, a $100 educational gift certificate and a plaque for their school acknowledging their achievement. 

To view all winning entries, visit www.pva.org/posteressay.

ENDS

Note to editors

Sixty-three years ago, Paralyzed Veterans of America was founded by a band of spinal cord injured service members who returned home from World War II to a grateful nation, but also to a world with few solutions to the challenges they faced. These veterans from the “Greatest Generation” made a decision not just to live, but to live with dignity as contributors to society. They created an organization, dedicated to veterans service, medical research and civil rights for people with disabilities. And for more than six decades, Paralyzed Veterans of America and its 34 chapters have been working to create an America where all veterans, and people with disabilities, and their families, have everything they need to thrive.