Emma Eberhard Wins Holmes County Anti-Vaping Billboard Design Contest

Emma Eberhard, a senior at West Holmes High School, won the Holmes County Anti-Vaping Billboard Design Contest with a design that will be displayed on a county billboard in the upcoming months. The Holmes County General Health District congratulated and thanked the youth who entered the contest and awarded winners with Visa gift cards for their designs.

The contest is part of the Tobacco Youth Action Plan, a local initiative that seeks to address current tobacco and nicotine use among Holmes County youth through youth and community partner engagement. The Youth Action Plan sets clear goals: increasing community awareness, improving access to and use of youth nicotine cessation resources, raising knowledge among Holmes County youth about the risks of nicotine use, and reducing youth access to tobacco products.

Organizers said the contest was intended both to engage young people in advocacy and to create a community-facing reminder of the harms of vaping. The Health District will feature Eberhard’s artwork on a billboard in the coming months, giving the message visible placement along county roads where families and students travel. The contest concluded January 25, 2026.

For rural communities like Holmes County, visual campaigns can serve as a practical component of broader prevention work. A youth-designed billboard showcases local voices in public health outreach and highlights young people as advocates rather than just targets for messaging. The Youth Action Plan pairs that visibility with concrete aims to expand cessation resources and community partnerships, seeking to convert awareness into support for young people who want to quit or avoid nicotine.

The Health District frames the billboard as one element in a wider effort that relies on both youth creativity and community institutions. By centering a West Holmes High School student’s design, the campaign underscores local leadership and the potential for peer influence in countering trends in youth nicotine use.

Residents who want more information or wish to get involved with the Tobacco Youth Action Plan can contact Kelly Dremann at the Holmes County General Health District by calling 330-674-5035 ext. 224. The billboard rollout and ongoing Youth Action Plan activities will be measures to watch as Holmes County works to reduce youth access to tobacco products and build pathways to cessation.

What this means for Holmes County is practical and civic: a student’s artwork will amplify a public health message countywide, and the Health District is inviting community participation to turn that message into measurable support for youth who need quitting resources or prevention education.