Campbell’s annual poster contest for youngsters will be put on hiatus this coming year due to a lack of participation.

The city’s Civic Improvement Commission unanimously voted to hit the pause button on the annual spring contest and instead explore other ways to draw in more participants, according to Commissioner Lucy Zheng.

The commission expressed concern about the decrease in participants despite the city’s efforts to promote the contest during a study session last month.

“We weren’t getting participation from all the different schools,” Zheng said in a phone interview with this newspaper. She added that most posters were being submitted by students at just one or two schools in the area.

Although the contest won’t be held next year, Zheng said the commission is talking about other ways to boost participation. The commission briefly discussed a photo contest instead of having participants draw a poster, opening the contest to other ages and holding it at a different time of year.

“Nothing is concrete yet,” Zheng said, adding the commission is still think of other contests to engage Campbell youth.

According to Zheng, the commission will collect ideas and figure out contest logistics with a potential contest for 2019.

The annual contest called on fifth-graders residing in the city to create a poster to the theme “What I Love about Campbell.” Posters would hang in city hall for a short period of time.

Commissioners would rate entries based on neatness, legibility, spelling, grammar and adherence to the contest theme. A grand prize winner for the best poster received a bike donated from Wheel Away Bike Center, while other participants would receive smaller prizes such as gift cards.

According to Deputy City Manager Al Bito, the prizes were donated by local businesses and private citizens. City staff spent spent time planning the contest, collecting and summarizing entries and also buying awards and refreshments for a post-contest celebration.

Bito added that the city may look to partner with another public agency when a new contest is finalized.

“We’re still in the process of changing things to get more participants,” Zheng said.