COQUITLAM, British Columbia — The winner of Seon Design’s first annual anti-bullying coloring contest is a middle school student who hails from Washington.

The company’s coloring contest was held in October in conjunction with National Bullying Prevention Month. Mayson Bac, 11, of North Thurston Public Schools’ Chinook Middle School was named the overall winner of the contest. 

Officials said deciding on an overall winner was difficult, as the company received more than 1,300 coloring submissions from students across the U.S. and Canada.

“We were overwhelmed by the success of our ‘Bullies Aren’t Cool’ coloring contest,” said Lori Jetha, marketing communications manager at Seon. “We always knew that school transportation staff were a dedicated bunch, but we were blown away with their response to this campaign.”

The purpose behind the Bullies Aren’t Cool coloring contest was to spark a conversation about bullying between bus drivers, students, school administrators and parents. Children competed in three age categories, submitting their contest entries by Oct. 31.  

Bac’s school will receive a $500 donation to put toward anti-bullying awareness, along with a Bully Project Educator’s DVD and Toolkit. Bac will also be awarded a Seon anti-bullying teddy bear, medal and certificate.

“We were so impressed by both the quantity and the quality of the contest entries that we decided to award special prizes for first, second and third place in each age category, in addition to choosing an overall winner,” Jetha added. “Everyone’s support of this worthy cause made us want to acknowledge more participants of the contest as a thank you.”

Seon chose a first-, second-, and third-place winner in each age category. The first-place winners of each age category will receive the Bully Project Educator’s DVD and Toolkit for their schools, and a Seon anti-bullying teddy bear, medal and certificate. Second- and third-place winners will receive a Seon teddy bear, medal and certificate.

Here are the official contest results:

Overall winner  
Mayson Bac, age 11, of Chinook Middle School, North Thurston Public Schools, Lacey, Wash.

Ages 5 to 7 category
• First place: Kayla Dils, age 6, of Phoenix High School, Plaquemines Parish School Board, Braithwaite, La.
• Second place: Fernando Navarro, age 5, of Tres Rios Elementary, Littleton Elementary School District #65, Avondale, Ariz.
• Third place: Valerie Wong, age 7, of Manning Elementary School, Peace River (Alberta) School Division

Ages 8 to 10 category
• First place: Jason Zharovskiy, age 10, of Dry Creek Elementary in Roseville, Calif.
• Second place: Brande Gillespie, age 9, of Bangor Township Schools in Bay City, Mich.
• Third place: Gabe Benally, age 8, of Blue Ridge Elementary, Blue Ridge Unified School District #32, Lakeside, Ariz.

Ages 11 and up category
• First place: Kalah Rich, age 12, of Tres Rios Elementary, Littleton Elementary School District #65, Avondale, Ariz.
• Second place: Anna Snow, age 13, of Blue Ridge Junior High, Blue Ridge Unified School District #32, Lakeside, Ariz.
• Third place: Jessica Geer, age 12, of Blue Ridge Middle School, Blue Ridge Unified School District #32, Lakeside, Ariz.

Officials said that going forward, Seon will conduct a coloring contest every year for National Bullying Prevention Month.