Kristen Bell’s Judging A Mask-Designing Contest For Kids & The Grand Prize Is $500

A new contest is encouraging kids to approach mask-wearing with a sense of creativity and fun. The “Masks by Me” contest from Vistaprint invites kids to design their very own dream mask and share it with the world. With some serious prizes and celebrity backing, this contest just might help your kiddos get psyched up for masks.

In its first-ever “Masks by Me” contest, Vistaprint is encouraging kids to design a mask featuring their original artwork. With Kristen Bell (AKA the voice of Princess Anna from the Frozen movies) as judge, kids are sure to get pretty excited for this creative event. The contest is open for entries until September 8, 2020, accepting artwork from kids aged 5 to 17, and full details about how to enter the "Masks by Me" contest are available on Vistaprint's site. Six grand prize winners, pulled from three age groups, will be rewarded with $500 for back to school supplies, 500 masks for their school, and 30 prints of their winning mask for their family and friends to enjoy.

There's a philanthropic aspect to the contest, too. Vistaprint will donate 25,000 masks to the Kids In Need Foundation, an organization that supports teachers and students in under-resourced schools. And in honor of the “Masks by Me” contest, Kristin Bell is donating $100,000 to CORE Response, an organization that offers free COVID-19 testing sites throughout the United States.

In addition to the philanthropic angle, this contest by Vistaprint is also designed to help individual kids across the states have a more positive, playful approach to wearing a mask. "For many people, especially kids, wearing a face mask may seem confining, even frustrating at times. It’s our goal to help them not just find comfort in wearing their mask, but find a sense of fun by giving it their own flair," says Erin Shea, North America Market Director at Vistaprint. "For many, it's not just a mask. It's an opportunity to rejoin their classmates and get back some sense of normalcy while keeping each other safe.” For parents whose kids find face masks kind of scary, or have trouble finding a comfortable mask that their child will keep on, a fun art contest may be just the thing to help them out.