Dear Cray-Pas Contest Participants,

For the past 17 years the Cray-Pas contest has played an important role supporting art education in public and private schools around the US and Canada. The goals were to encourage experimentation and creativity with this unique art material, to reward artistic excellence in students and teachers, and to support public art education. Over the past 5 years and during the 2012 contest in particular, we received a record number of entries from private art studios and relatively few from public school art programs.  We realized that the primary goal of supporting public school art education is not being met and therefore have come to the difficult decision to cancel the Cray-Pas contest for the 2012/2013 school year.

Sakura will continue outreach efforts to schools through social media such as our Cray-Pas Facebook page at www.facebook.com/CrayPas and our YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/SakuraColorProducts, through lesson plans, and through collaboration with teachers and other companies.

We’ve had some very loyal teachers and students who’ve participated in the contest every year, and we want to THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT. It is still our goal to promote creativity and self expression in students and artists of all ages. Innovation, high quality materials, and the belief in an individual’s Power to Express are part of our corporate philosophy and we welcome suggestions that promote these goals on a large scale. For example, ideas that promote creativity throughout your home state, support teachers of art education, or some other plan with a wide audience where collaboration with Sakura of America would be mutually beneficial are welcome. If you have any questions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact us at: 800-776-6257 x177, or lcrumpler@sakuraofamerica.com.


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Sign up for Sakura’s new Art Education email list for upcoming events, lesson plans, new product announcements, and company news.

View winners from previous years of the contest.

Learn about the History of Cray-Pas® and Sakuras approach to art education.

View the Pictorial History of Cray-Pas®.