By VASHTI HARRIS
Staff Writer
SOUTH RIVER – After narrowing down 750 logo design submissions to five finalists, the votes have been tallied and the grand prize winner of the South River Police Department’s 100th Anniversary T-Shirt Design Contest is ninth-grader Ciara Baez.
To celebrate a century of protecting and serving the residents of South River, the police department will feature Ciara’s logo on the back of its commemorative t-shirts, along with the department’s 100th anniversary logo that will be featured on the front.
The 15-year-old was rewarded with the first anniversary shirt, a police department 100th anniversary pen and a Visa gift card on April 12 at police headquarters.
When asked how she came up with her design, she said she knew she wanted to include the American flag.
“I was talking with friends in art class and I thought the American flag would look cool with the 100 years,” Ciara said. “I am pretty excited because no one else will achieve this opportunity for the next 100 years, so I am really happy.”
To plan events to commemorate the centennial anniversary, Chief of Police Mark Tinitigan formed a committee where members of the police department came up with ideas for celebratory items and events that would take place throughout the year, according to Sgt. Edwin Yorek.
When discussing the idea for the t-shirt contest, the committee decided not to seek a professional but instead get students from the borough involved.
“The committee, as well as the chief, wanted to involve the students in helping us celebrate our department’s 100-year anniversary because we are all about the kids and love to get them involved,” Yorek said.
Last September, the police department asked South River middle and high school students to submit designs. There were 750 total design entries, according to Yorek.
After receiving all of the submissions, the committee narrowed them down to 25. Then, Tinitigan chose five. The finalists’ designs were placed on an online survey where residents were able to vote on the design they thought was best, according to Yorek.
“We received over 1,000 votes and Baez’s [design] received 48 percent of the votes, which was about half,” Yorek said.
To get Ciara’s design printed on the shirts, the police department sought out East Coast Customs owner Mark Tasca, who has done work for the department in the past, according to Yorek.
“As a committee we all are happy with how everything turned out and it was pretty simple and to the point. The hard part was picking a winner, because we did not want to hurt anyone’s feeling, but ultimately we let the public choose the design they thought was best, because if we are going to sell our t-shirts to the public we wanted it to be a design that the public chose,” Yorek said.
“The [other] hard part was trying to get Baez’s exact design drawing onto the t-shirt, so we changed her design into a digital design, but we made sure to keep her original design that she had drawn,” he said.
The police department is currently accepting orders for the t-shirts, as all proceeds will go toward funding the department’s free community policing programs and free community events, according to a statement provided by the department.
Order forms can be found at police headquarters, the South River Office on Aging, the South River Public Library, South River Borough Hall and the South River Public Schools main office.
The police department will also be accepting orders at its annual Bicycle Rodeo and Public Safety Day on June 3, National Night Out on Aug. 1 and other events throughout the year.
To place an order for an anniversary tee, visit www.southrivernj.org/2017/SRPD-100yr-Anniversary-T-shirt-Order-Form.pdf.
Contact Vashti Harris at [email protected].