May 17th

By Mutt Mulligan

High-paw to TurfMutt’s “Be a Backyard Superhero” contest winners

Drum roll please! The winners of TurfMutt’s “Be a Backyard Superhero” contest have been announced. Each of these creative kids will receive a $5,000 grant to improve the yards and green spaces at their schools. The checks will be presented on June 1.

The K-2 grand prize winner is Ali Tomlinson of Playa Vista, Calif. The grade 3-5 grand prize winner is Kashvi Ramani, of Ashburn, Va.

Ali attends Playa Vista Elementary School. Her entry was “Teamwork Makes the Dream Work.” It’s a story about how TurfMutt and the Outdoor Powers saved a neighborhood. Kashvi attends Belmont Station Elementary School. Her entry was an original rap song, “Outdoor Saviors.”

In addition to these grand prize winners, 50 runners-up in each grade level will receive a book from Scholastic, the Outdoor Power Equipment Institute’s (OPEI) partner on the TurfMutt environmental education program.

To enter the contest, students had to create an original picture using the TurfMutt character cutouts. Students wrote stories to accompany their artwork. The stories showed how they are Backyard Superheroes who combat environmental villains Carbon Creep, Dust Demon, Dr. Runoff, and Heat Freak while working to save living landscapes. Students in K-2 wrote stories between 25-50 words, and students in grades 3-5 wrote 100-150 word stories.

There were 790 entries in this year’s “Be a Backyard Superhero” contest. TurfMutt and the Outdoor Powers say a big thank you to everyone who participated!

The contest may be over, but kids can still learn how to take care of green spaces and brush up on best practices for water use and landscape maintenance. Check out TurfMutt.com for activities, lesson plans, games, story books and more.