Berks County students are invited to express their creativity by participating in the Youth Voices of Independence Contest, which is open to students in grades six to 12. As part of the first-time event, which is designed to celebrate the signing of the Declaration of Independence 250 years ago, youths may submit written submissions, artwork or a short video that answers the question, "What Does the Declaration of Independence Mean to You?"

The contest is being presented by the America250PA Berks Committee and administered by Berks County Public Libraries.

"There is a committee, America250PA Berks, and they are organizing (250th anniversary) activities and they're in charge of the contest. Berks County Public Libraries became a partner when they were looking for ways to distribute information and collect (entries)," explained Christie Brown, deputy administrator/outreach services coordinator for Berks County Public Libraries. "Initially, they thought to make it an essay contest but decided to open it up and make it more diverse."

There will be two divisions in the contest. Division 1 is for students in grades six to eight, while Division 2 is open to students in grades nine to 12.

All entries must be submitted online. Written submissions may include an essay, a poem or a short story. For the artwork category, students are to take high-resolution photographs of whatever art project they have created.

Finally, students may choose to produce a short video reel. Uploaded files may not exceed 250 MB in total. "It would be similar to a social media reel, so a minute or a minute and a half (in length)," noted Brown.

For more details and to enter a submission, visit http://www.america250paberks.com/events. Youths will be asked to complete an online form and upload their submissions to be entered into the contest. The deadline to enter is Monday, March 30.

Gift card prizes will be presented to the first-place winners in each category. The prizes are sponsored by Berks County Commissioners Christian Leinbach, Michael Rivera and Dante Santoni. Leinbach serves as part of the America250PA County Advisory Committee and is also the chair of the America250PA Berks Committee.

To help publicize the contest, Brown has solicited the help of libraries in Berks County, including the Boone Area Library in Birdsboro and the Village Library of Morgantown, asking them to post information about the event both in the libraries and online.

"We also sent out a press release to schools, targeting middle and high school buildings in the county, to get the word out more since those are the demographics we are looking at," Brown said, noting that library staff members will judge the contest.

It is still to be determined where the winning entries will be displayed. "There has been some talk of having them come to the main (250th anniversary) events," said Brown. "Our thought was to display (the winners') entries in whatever library they use."

Information about the contest winners and events will be posted at the aforementioned website.

Some entries have already been submitted, and most of them are written submissions. However, the various categories are designed to encourage more students to participate.

"(The committee) is trying to reach kids with different skills and areas of expertise," Brown added. "Some are more comfortable writing, and (others) may want to enter something more artistic. This gives more options."