For the third straight year, the National WIC Association’s Calendar Art Competition was a big success. The National WIC Association invited children from all clinics to participate in its third Children’s Art Competition for the 2009 Nutrition Education Calendar. The contest welcomed more than 300 entries.

Several West Virginia children will be highlighted in the new edition of the NWA calendar. The Boone County WIC Program had four winners for the 2009 edition: Emma and Caitlyn Mulligan, Paige Ferrell and Keirsten Bassham. The children were honored with a celebration at the clinic site. They also each won a $50 gift basket from Scholastic Books.

The Mulligan girls, co-winners and sisters, Emma (age 4) and Caitlyn, (age 7), were excited to win. The girls’ brother, Nikoles Mulligan and Mikayla Chandler won last year’s contest. This made the girls even more determined to make a good showing this time around. Paige Ferrell, (age 5) enjoyes dancing and cheering for fun. Her family has participated in WIC on and off for 7 years.

The 2009 NWA wall calendar, “Steps to a Healthier Family,” features beautiful full-color artwork created by WIC children from across the country. The calendar offers WIC participants ideas on how to achieve good health. It provides physical activity, health, and nutrition information to help WIC parents care for their children. A quiz is featured each month to engage participants in active learning. Healthy and easy-to-make recipes using the new WIC foods are presented to encourage family meals.