Smokey Bear & Woodsy Owl Poster Contests - 2027 - Arizona Federation of Garden Clubs

“Only YOU Can Prevent Forest Fires” was the slogan Smokey Bear always told us back in the “good old days”. Today, Smokey Bear has changed his slogan to “Only You Can Prevent Wildfires!”

Since 1944, Smokey Bear has reminded the public to put their campfires completely out, don’t throw a lighted cigarette out the window of a car, and don’t play with matches. This beloved icon works with the National Park Service to help protect our national forests and other areas from wildfires through educating the public.

To help educate the public about wildfires, each year, there is a Smokey Bear & Woodsy Owl poster contest open to children in grades 1-5. Children choose either Smokey Bear and his slogan or Woodsy Owl and his slogan to draw a poster with the slogan included.

In 1972, a perky owl with a green cap was added to the poster contest when the first Woodsy Owl and Smokey Bear Poster Contest was held. Again, children in grades 1-5 could make a poster for either Smokey Bear or Woodsy Owl. Woodsy Owl’s conservation message is “Lend a Hand – Care for the Land!”.

This poster contest goes right along with AFGC president Jennifer Moreland’s theme, Conservation is the Key, Pacific Region president Tanja Swanson’s theme, Plant America: Wild, Wise and Wonderful, and NGC President Donna Donnelly’s theme, Plant America for the Next 100 Years.

It would be a great natural resources conservation project for your club to sponsor a Woodsy Owl and Smokey Bear poster contest at a local school for grades 1-5 or even for only one grade, such as third grade. You can make the contest as large or small as you wish at the local level. Scout troops, home-school groups, a local 4-H club, church youth groups or other youth groups can also be the children you sponsor for the poster contest.

Local garden clubs sponsor the contest in their community, with the club’s poster chairman submitting five winning posters to the state for judging by January 22, 2027.

The state chooses five winning posters which are submitted to Pacific Region by February 26, 2027.

Five regional winning posters must be received by National Garden Clubs by March 19, 2027.

A winner for each grade level, 1-5, is chosen by NGC, and the National Parks Service chooses the one grand prize-winning poster from the five NGC poster winners. For complete information go to Smokey Bear & Woodsy Owl Youth Poster Contest | National Garden Clubs and Smokey-Woodsy Poster Contest Announcement.

Let’s keep the Smokey Bear & Woodsy Owl poster contest alive and growing by having as many Arizona garden clubs sponsor the contest as possible. It’s a great way to spread the word about conserving our natural resources.

Don’t forget to write a blog about your contest.

By Karen Bowen, Blog Manager