Playground Design Contest Frequently Asked Questions

No. Only projects within the United States are eligible.

No, but perhaps you would be interested in one of our Spruce Grants.

If you applied for the Dr Pepper Snapple Construction grant, you can still enter the Playground Design Contest.

After uploading your design, call or email the KaBOOM! Grants Manager, Deva Jones. She will then instruct you if you need to fill out an additional grant application for this contest.

Deva Jones
Email: djones@kaboom.org
Phone: (202) 464-6161
Toll-free: 888-789-PLAY (7529)

You cannot be awarded both grants.

Winners of the Playground Design Contest must purchase their equipment and install it (using the community-build model) within one year of winning the contest.

The installation of the equipment must be a volunteer led, community build day. If your local laws and/or regulations disallow that, you should not enter the contest.

• Have a project entered in our Project Planner tool (a KaBOOM! account is required to create a project. Sign up for KaBOOM!)
• Submit a design to our submission form. Submit a design
• Complete our Playground Design Contest grant application
  • You can find the grant application on the "Grants" tab of your project page. This is what it looks like:

  

Playground designs can be hand-drawn by children (or adults), a computer rendering by a playground vendor, an image with equipment cutouts pasted on it, or come from a professional landscape architect. Use your imagination! If it can be scanned into a JPG file or a PDF document, it can be submitted for the contest. Check out last year's entries for examples of playground designs.

One difference between last year's contest and this year's is that we are now actively encouraging designs from the playgrounds experts: kids!

Consider holding a Design Day to collect designs from the children in your community that will be playing on the playground. Learn more about planning and leading a Design Day ot watch this video of a KaBOOM! Design Day.

To minimize fraudulent voting.

If you want to change your design, go back to our submission form and repeat the process of uploading your designs with new files. Your previous entry will no longer count. Only the most recent submission to the contest will count as an entry.

To delete your design and withdrawl from the contest, email Jason Cooper at jcooper@kaboom.org.

You can email or call Jason Cooper.

Email: jcooper@kaboom.org

Phone: (202) 464-6189

Toll-free: 1-888-789-PLAY (7529)

Your grant application must be submitted by October 21st at 3:00 PM (EST).

1. Sign into the KaBOOM! website
2. Visit the "Your Projects" page
3. Select the project that you entered into the contest
4. Go to the Grants tab along the left-hand side of your project
5. Click the "Playground Design Contest Grant Application" button

This is what the Grants tab looks like in your project:

Key criteria used in the competitive selection process include:

• Demonstrated need for a playground in the community
• Anticipated impact that the playground and project will have on the community 
• Impact on low income areas 
• Capacity to engage the community in planning and building the playground
• Capacity to generate the matching funds to support and complete the build within the time frame of the grant period
• Demonstrated enthusiasm for this project and commitment to fulfill requirements

Contact Deva Jones, KaBOOM! Grants Manager:

Email: djones@kaboom.org

Phone: (202) 464-6161

Toll-free: 1-888-789-PLAY (7529)

Make sure you're aware of all required documents, before starting your application. You will be required to submit a number of supplemental documents, in addition to complete narrative essays. Incomplete applications will not be reviewed.

KaBOOM! cannot recover any unsaved responses that are lost due to power or internet outages. To risk not losing your application answers, we highly recommend you complete your narrative questions offline (in Microsoft Word or Google Docs, for example), then paste the answers into each text box when you are prepared to submit your application.

Please do not send an application via fax. We prefer to receive all applications and materials electronically, so that everything can be received by the deadline.

Answer the essays with as much detail as necessary. Please do not give one-word answers to any of the narrative questions. With less information, it is difficult for us to fully evaluate the need for funding within your community.

Provide a detailed and complete fundraising plan. The review committee takes a very careful look at each applicant's fundraising plan to ensure that the applicant has the capacity to raise the necessary funds. Be sure to describe past successes and realistic future plans.

Give detailed examples of how you are using or plan to use the Community-Build Model. Use of the Community-Build Model is central to our grant programs. Learn more about the Community-Build Model

Set a project completion date or Build Date. Setting a firm Build Date and working backwards from that date improves your chance of success!

We highly suggest you attend a KaBOOM! training! You can learn everything you need to know about the community-build model, vendor and site selection, and fundraising at a KaBOOM! training. Information you gain at these events will help you run a smooth project and build a new great place to play! Visit http://playschool.kaboom.org for more details.

A special committee of KaBOOM! and Let's Play employees will select the finalists. Finalists will be judged on the contents of their grant application, their use of the project planner, and the design submitted.

Finalists will be notified on October 28th, 2011.

On October 31st, the finalists will be displayed on the Let's Play Facebook page, and people visiting that page can vote for the community they want to win the grant. Voting ends on November 11th at 12:00 PM (EST).

Once voting has ended, winners will be notified within 24 hours.

If you win, you will be awarded $15,000 towards the purchase of your future playground's equipment. Your equipment must be purchased from one of our KaBOOM! Preferred Vendors. Learn more about our preferred vendors.

Yes. You must purchase a mininum purchase of $24,000 to use the grant.

Yes! As a Playground Design Contest winner, you are required to purchase and install the playground equipment (using the community-build model) within one year of winning the grant.