Creative Works Raise Awareness of Youth Mental Health
Concord, NH (January 6, 2025) – The New Hampshire Children’s System of Care (CSoC) is accepting youth submissions for the seventh annual Magnify Voices Expressive Art Contest. Now through April 20, New Hampshire students in fifth through 12th grade are encouraged to submit creative work reflecting their experiences with and connections to mental health. Magnify Voices is a CSoC initiative to raise awareness, erase stigma and effect positive change for youth mental health in New Hampshire.
“Art is such a powerful means of expressing and sharing emotions. Since the Magnify Voices Expressive Art Contest began in 2019, it has provided a forum for youth to share their stories and raise awareness of youth mental health,” said Deb Jurkoic, Magnify Voices Committee Member and NAMI New Hampshire (National Alliance on Mental Illness) NH Family Network Coordinator. “Even after the contest is over, the works created by these students will continue to have an impact as they are shared at various sites around the state with opportunities for the artists to continue to engage and share their voices within the community.”
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), youth in America are experiencing a mental health crisis, with the percentage of high school students feeling sad and hopeless increasing significantly in the past 10 years. NAMI National reports that one in six U.S. youth experience a mental health disorder each year.
CSoC created Magnify Voices to call attention to the mental health challenges of New Hampshire youth and the shortfalls of the system that serves youth and families. The art contest is part of a national effort to recognize the vital importance of positive mental health for a child’s healthy development.
Morgan, a high school junior, was awarded the People’s Choice Award in the 2024 Magnify Voices contest for a powerful essay about her mental health journey. “It seemed like the perfect way to take my darkness and turn it into light that could help guide others through their darkest times,” she wrote in her essay titled “When will it stop?”. She added that “The Magnify Voices Art Contest is an event that not only celebrates the creativity of youth artists but also demonstrates the healing power that art brings. I am so grateful to have been a part of Magnify Voices. It has changed my life.”
Magnify Voices accepts a wide range of artistic submissions, including a short video, song, performance, or interpretive dance (two minutes or less); an essay or poem (1,000 words or less); or a design medium such as sculpture, photography, painting, or diorama. An exhibit of all submissions will be featured at a celebration event on May 21, 2025. Twelve finalists will be chosen by a panel of judges, including youth judges, and will be announced at the event, along with a People’s Choice winner. Each finalist will receive a $250 cash prize and their artwork will appear in an academic planner.
After the celebration event, submissions will be displayed at other exhibits and events around the state to continue to raise awareness and reduce stigma around youth mental health.
For more information or to view the 2024 submissions and finalists, visit NHCSoC.org/magnify-voices.
