CARY – Five Cary-Grove High School students won awards for Metra’s second annual safety poster contest.

      The contest is designed to promote railroad safety practices to students from kindergarten to 12th grade throughout the six-county Northeastern Illinois region, according to a news release.

      First-place winners include 11th-grader Harrison Kuykendall and 12th-grader Emily Harvey.

      Second-place winners include 10th-grader Stephanie Emerich and 11th-grader Knick Banas.

      Tenth-grader Lizzy Dyrek won third place.

      Student participants were judged for first, second and third place in each grade level.

      The transit agency received more than 1,500 entries from more than 100 schools throughout the region.

      “Not only have the students shown extraordinary talent and creativity in their poster design, but most importantly, they have also exhibited tremendous leadership in articulating the importance of railroad safety to their peers,” Philip A. Pagano, executive director of Metra, said in a news release.

     The theme of this year’s safety poster contest was“Play it Safe: Look, Listen and Live.” It was chosen to recognize the importance of fundamental safety behaviors around trains and railroad tracks.

     The first-place winning poster designs will be featured in more than 2,000 schools in the region throughout the year to encourage safety around trains. The designs also will be pictured on Metra’s monthly commuter tickets, featured in Metra’s annual safety calendar, and displayed in Metra train stations throughout Northeastern Illinois.

     This year’s judging panel, which included local government officials and Metra representatives, judged each poster based on creativity, originality and appropriate representation of the contest theme.

     The first-place winners received new laptops. The second- and third-place winners received $250 and $100 gift cards, respectively.