OGDENSBURG — Imagine the city 15 years from now.

The Ogdensburg Public Library, 312 Washington St., is asking young people to do just that while making use of their budding artistic talents.

The library is sponsoring an art contest for students ages 13 to 19. Creations in any medium, such as drawings, paintings or films — devoid of inappropriate content such as nudity or obscenities — must be dropped off at the library by Dec. 1.

“The art show is the brainchild of our student page, Hannah Lamere, and part-time clerk/teen programmer Melanie Brown,” said library Director Wayne L. Miller.

The theme “Ogdensburg of the Future” was based on a suggestion Mr. Miller made. “It came from a grant I wrote four years ago, that was not funded, to create a place where teens could participate in the community’s economic redevelopment efforts,” he said.

Mr. Miller said the theme reflects every small, close-knit community’s fear — that its young people will leave and go out into the world, never to return.

Therefore, the age range in the contest is no surprise, Mr. Miller said. “The concept was to empower our kids as a reverse-the-brain-drain.”

“They go off to college and few are able and willing to return,” he said. “We want them to have a stake in building an Ogdensburg of the future. If that is a place with which they identify, a place where they can prosper, they will lift the community along with themselves and their families.”

The contest asks teens to envision Ogdensburg 15 years from now, when the entrants will be 28 to 34 years old.

“That’s the age when young professionals are establishing their permanent residences, building businesses, starting families,” Mr. Miller said. “The newly proposed redevelopment plan covering much of the riverfront and city core has projects that, if realized, could well take that long to occur.”

The contest will recognize winners of People’s Choice and Best of Show awards with a $25 gift card from Brewer Bookstore at St. Lawrence University, Canton. Winning entries will be displayed at City Hall.

Digital pictures of each entry will be posted on the library’s Teen Program Facebook page.

For more information, call Ms. Brown at the library at 393-4325.

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