Break out your crayons and colored pencils and get those creative design juices flowing for a special quarantine project. Washington Capitals forward Nic Dowd and his wife, Paige, recently announced the Dowd’s Crowd logo design contest earlier this month as a way to celebrate Autism Awareness Month.
Fans of all ages are being asked to help design the new logo for the charity, which will be printed on the drawstring bags that contain the Dowd’s Crowd sensory kits. Winners of the contest will receive four tickets to a future home game, a post-game meet and greet with the Dowds and 10 drawstring bags with the winning logo.
“With some of our events we had planned put on pause for the safety of others and ourselves, we wanted to find a way during this social distancing to still have Dowd’s Crowd running,” Dowd said on the creation of the contest in a recent press release.
The St. Cloud State alum also mentioned a variety of reasons for wanting to run the contest during April, including giving parents that are now home-school teachers a project for their children, spreading awareness of Autism Awareness Month and getting the whole community involved.
Completed designs should be emailed to [email protected] by Friday, May 1 to be entered into the contest.
“Our family, friends and neighborhood have all participated, and it’s so humbling to see everyone’s support,” Dowd said. “We thought it would be cool to have the winner of this contest be our new logo because it brings us even closer with our community. Having the logo be created by one of our supporters will make wearing the shirt or backpack that much more special.”
Dowd’s Crowd was created by the couple during the 2018-2019 season, the year Nic was signed by the Capitals as a free agent. Through the program, which is partnered with Autism Speaks, the Dowds donate Capitals tickets and provide sensory kits to families, so children can enjoy the game without sensory overload.
For more kid-focused reads, subscribe to our weekly Family newsletter.
