(September 25, 2009) - October is National Energy Awareness Month and Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division is sponsoring the annual Energy Awareness Month Poster Contest for Memphis and Shelby County students.

The contest theme is Energy Awareness and Energy Conservation. The deadline for submitting entries is Friday, Nov. 13.

The poster contest is open to students in grades K-12 in both city and county schools; the goal is to give students the opportunity to learn and share ideas about saving energy The poster contest will be judged in three categories – elementary school (grades K-5), middle school (grades 6-8) and high school (grades 9-12). The entries will be judged on their ability to clearly and creatively communicate the theme "saving energy." MLGW will oversee the judging of the artwork.

Each category winner will receive a $125 award and an energy-saving kit. Each winner's teacher will receive a $125 gift certificate to the Art Center and an energy-saving kit. All contestants receive a certificate of participation, and all entries become property of MLGW and may be used for future energy-saving promotional purposes.

Entries must be the original artwork of the student submitting the entry; photographs and computer-generated artwork will not be accepted. Contestants will submit their artwork to the art teacher at their participating school. Official rules, guidelines and entry forms are available through City and County Schools.

Interested students should contact their school's art teachers, or their school system's representatives, Gregg Coats (City Schools) at CoatsG@mcsk12.net and Amanda Galbraith (Shelby County Schools) at agalbraith@scsk12.org. More information, rules and entry forms can be found on MLGW’s Web site at www.mlgw.com/artcontest.

MLGW is the largest three-service public power utility in the nation, serving more than 420,000 customers in Memphis and Shelby County.