BY CHERYL DEATON, CALIFORNIA
Winners of the 2018 coloring contest.
, carolyn hoover
Youth Views
The annual AIS Youth Coloring Contest
has concluded and all of the prizes have been
awarded. The overall winner was Dietrich Brase from
Region 21. He entered in the seven- to nine-year old
category and won his age division and an award for
creativity in addition to being chosen as the overall
winner. Congratulations Dietrich! The judges felt his
entry was the most comprehensive as he not only
colored the iris, but the sky and the ground below.
Please look for his winning entry elsewhere in this
issue and on the AIS Youth website, AISYouth.com.
Winners in the other groups are as follows: ages
six and under—Ethan Brase of Region 21; ages seven
to nine—first place Dietrich Brase, second place
James Miller from Region 14, and third place Jason
Rush from Region 18; ages 10 to 12—first place a tie
Madeline Obrecht from Region 21 and McKenna
Falk from Region 15, second place Katharina Brase
from Region 21, third place Jason Chien from Region
18. Reagan Boberg from Region 14 won the Most
Creative award. No entries were received this year
from the thirteen- to fifteen-year age group or the
sixteen and up age group. A total of 64 entries were
received from Regions 2, 14, 15, 18 and 21. Many of
the entrants belong to Classroom Iris Programs.
This year’s topic for the Ackerman Essay Contest,
“If you could plant an iris garden anywhere in the
world, where would it be, which irises would you
choose to plant, and what would you like visitors
to your garden to learn?” has many of our youth
members doing quite a bit of research. Questions
about location, climate, soil conditions and many
other subjects have our young people searching
for answers, especially if they choose an area they
are unfamiliar with. Deadline for essay entries is
February 15, 2019. Good luck with your essays!
The AIS Youth program has a patch program
that includes entering the Coloring Contest
and the Ackerman Essay Contest as part of its
requirements. Some of the other requirements are
writing an article for their local club newsletter or
a national publication, encouraging others to join
the American Iris Society, participating in club and
regional activities, entering iris shows, and growing
two or more varieties of irises. All the activities must
be completed in a calendar year, which makes it
sometimes difficult for the youth members to earn
a patch.
Nominations for the Clarke Cosgrove Memorial
Award for Youth Achievement were due January 31,
2019. There are many young people who deserve
your nomination for this national honor, so please
send your nominations for next year to Cheryl
Deaton as an attachment to region15kids@hotmail.
com. You will be glad you did!
Did you know that AIS youth members have the
same benefits as adult members? They receive a
youth newsletter instead of the Bulletin, but they
44 AIS Bulletin Winter 2019