Winner of Missing Children's Poster Contest Honored; Kansas Missing Children's Day to be observed May 25

Topeka - Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) honored the 2019 winner of the Kansas Missing Children’s Poster Contest, an art competition for Kansas 5th graders that encourages child safety and creates awareness for Kansas children who remain missing.

The national poster contest is sponsored annually by the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. The winner of this year’s Kansas poster contest was 11-year-old Paxton Burt of Overland Park, who attends Harmony Elementary School. Paxton’s poster represented the state of Kansas in the national poster contest.

On Tuesday, May 21, Paxton and his family attended a day of events honoring his selection as the 2019 contest winner. They met Attorney General Derek Schmidt, KBI Director Kirk Thompson, toured the Capitol, and learned about criminal investigations through mock crime scene activities.

Governor Kelly also proclaimed May 25, 2019 as Kansas Missing Children’s Day. Both the poster contest and the observance of Missing Children’s Day are intended to raise awareness of the risks of child abduction and provide valuable safety information to students and parents.

Each year in Kansas, an average of 4,645 children are reported missing to the KBI’s Missing Persons Clearinghouse, and last year over 424,000 children nationwide were declared missing by law enforcement. Many of those reports are for runaways, which are known to frequently reoccur. Fortunately, most missing children’s cases are resolved a short time after being reported.

The Governor’s proclamation of Missing Children’s Day calls on “all Kansans to join together in remembering the many children who remain missing, and to not waver in efforts to reunite them with their families. The citizens of the State of Kansas are urged to stand vigilant when a child goes missing and remain committed to reducing the tragic incidents of missing children.”