“Forests for People – More Than You Can Imagine!” is the topic for the 2012 Kansas Association of Conservation District Speech Contest. This topic encourages participants to discover the important role forests have in their daily life. The contest is available to any high school age student, grade 9 – 12 throughout Brown County. The contest will be held October 15 at 6:30 p.m. at the USDA Service Center in Hiawatha.

The participants will be competing for not only the opportunity to represent Brown County in the area contest but first and second places will be awarded $100 and $50 US Savings Bonds respectively. The District winner will compete at the area contest for cash prizes in the amount of $250 for the first place winner, $150 cash for second place and third place will receive $100. The area winner will compete in the State contest for scholarships which can be used at an accredited school or training institution of the winner’s choice. First place will be awarded a $500 scholarship and second place will receive a $250 scholarship.

In an effort to encourage participation a $25 Wal-Mart gift card will be presented to the sponsoring teacher of the 1st place district winner.

Students wishing to compete in the speech contest need to submit a completed entry form to the USDA Service Center office by 4:00 p.m. on October 12, 2012. To obtain an entry blank, along with a full list of rules, please contact Vicki Goertzen at the Brown County Conservation District Office by e-mail (vicki.goertzen@ks.nacdnet.net ) or by phone at 785-742-3161 ext 1331.