26 Days of Kawasaki Disease Awareness: Day 3

To celebrate the 4th annual National Kawasaki Disease Awareness Day on January 26, 2014, I will be posting 26 ideas on how you can spread KD awareness in your own community and beyond - one idea per day until the 26th.  

Here are the past days:

Day 1: Help make 'National Kawasaki Disease Awareness Day' officially recognized at the local, state, and national levels.
Day 2: Create an email signature to promote Kawasaki Disease awareness.


Now let's get to today's idea:


Day 3: Organize an art contest.

There are many ways to put on an art contest; here is one example:

Step 1 - Make up the contest.  Create rules for a simple contest that will fit on an 8 1/2 by 11 sheet of paper or smaller.  Some of the rules may have to be tweaked depending on the location you later choose.  Areas you will want to cover include:

• Age limits of entries
• Start and end dates 
• Prizes
• Entry Fee (not necessary)
• Guidelines for the artwork
• Who will be judging the contest

The guidelines should, of course, has something to do with Kawasaki Disease Awareness.  You can make it very specific, like each piece of art must have something to do with the symptoms of the disease or you could ask the children to draw or paint a picture of their heart.  Or you can leave it more open like each piece of art must relate to KD in some way.  You could use ask a question as a way to describe the kind of art you want.  Good questions might be: How would you feel if you had Kawasaki Disease? or How would you cure Kawasaki Disease? You could even provide outline pictures of a heart (or other image) and turn it into a coloring contest.  It's your contest so you can be as creative as you want and encourage the children to be as creative as they want. 

If you are just holding this event as an awareness campaign, there is no need to charge an entry fee.  If you want to turn this even into a KD charity donation, charge a small fee to everyone wanting to enter the contest, informing them that all proceeds will benefit your chosen KD charity.  

Step 2 - Give Kawasaki Disease Facts.  On the back of the contest rules, print out a list of basic Kawasaki Disease facts like statistics on KD, classic symptoms for diagnosis, treatments, and major complications.  These facts will spread awareness of KD and provide information for the guidelines of the contest.

Step 3 - Approach places to display artwork for the contest.  Take a copy of the contest rules/KD facts with you to show the prospective hosts that they won't have to do any of that work themselves.  Many different kinds of facilities may be interested in hosting an art contest for charity including:

• Art museums
• Art galleries
• Schools or school districts
• Libraries
• Religious establishments
• Private businesses
• You could even conduct your contest completely online!

Step 4 - Choose prizes for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place.  Call or visit local businesses who may be interested in donating something as a prize.  Make sure you get prizes that will appeal to children.  If you end up choosing a private business to host the contest (like a restaurant or department store) they can provide the prizes.  

Step 5 - Promote your art contest and showing.  Run adds in local newspapers and magazines (ask if they will donate the space in the name of the charity).  Print up flyers to distribute to schools, libraries, and other public places.  Call local radio and television stations and ask them to run a story on your event.  Use online social media.  Tell everyone you know - word of mouth can work wonders!

Need some motivation to get you started? Check out these great success stories of art shows, contests and auctions:

"For the past 18 years, the American Kidney Fund has conducted a nationwide art contest for young artists up to 18 years old who have kidney disease. Thirteen drawings are selected for inclusion in the annual calendar, and the cover artist is selected through online voting. The program provides an opportunity for pediatric patients to express themselves through artwork and to receive national recognition while increasing awareness of kidney disease throughout the United States. The Calendar Kids Program is supported by an educational donation provided by Amgen."

-- American Kidney Fund Calendar Kids Program

"DaBearsBlog and Art of Men present an event to benefit the Otis Wilson Charitable Association.  Anyone can enter! All you have to do is put together your best Ditka ensemble. The classic sweater vest! The mustache! The cigar! Then you will have a moment to walk the stage in front of the celebrity judges. The contest winner will receive two tickets to the Chicago Bears v. Dallas Cowboys Monday night game on December 9th. The Bears will retire Mike Ditka's #89 jersey at halftime of that game.  The Otis Wilson Charitable Association will also being holding a Christmas Toy Drive at the event. So bring a toy and become eligible to win an Otis Wilson signed jersey!"

-- DaBearsBlog and Art of Men present an event to benefit the Otis Wilson Charitable Association, Black Oil Brothers

"The ECO-Warrior Foundation in partnership with Hotel Seven4one, will be hosting a live art auction at Hotel Seven4one on May 29th 2013. The event will begin at 6:00 PM with registration followed by a cocktail hour with tray passed hors d'oeuvres. The live auction will take place from 7:00 PM till 9:00 PM. Nine pieces of art were painted and donated by Jeffrey Robinson DNA artist, based out of Toronto, Canada. Each piece is hand crafted with a deep and passionate focus on the waterways, oceans, and pollution that has reshaped our earth."

-- Live Art Auction Charity Event to Benefit the ECO-Warrior Foundation

"Fine artist Wade Koniakowsky believes in giving back to the community where he surfs and paints.  Through the Aaron Chang Ocean Art Gallery, in which he has a partnership with photographer Aaron Chang, the two are sponsoring an ocean art contest to benefit the Oceanside chapter of Stand Up For Kids, a nonprofit that aids homeless children."

-- Solana Beach fine artist sponsors ocean art contest for kids to help homeless children

"Greencastle made headlines recently for its growing graffiti problem in the downtown business district, but an upcoming contest in the same area will encourage artistic expression, but this time for a good cause.  Plans for a first-of-its-kind chalk art contest on the Greencastle square are under way with the proceeds set to benefit a local charity that provides financial assistance to school children.  Participants young and old are encouraged to bring their sidewalk chalk, and for only $5 and a can of food, will be able to create a drawing of their choosing all around the Greencastle square."

-- Chalk art contest to benefit local children

"The SAVE THE FROGS! Art Contest invites you to create your coolest frog artwork. The contest will raise awareness of the amphibian extinction problem by getting people involved and interested, and the artwork will be used on t-shirts, stickers, posters, coffee mugs, hats, and in greeting cards and books, to both publicize our cause and raise money for SAVE THE FROGS! amphibian conservation efforts."

-- SAVE THE FROGS! Frog Art Contest



If you decide to pursue this idea, please let us know in the comments below or on Desperately Seeking Kawasaki Facebook page and update us with your progress.  Come back tomorrow for Day 4!