I’m hoping you will enjoy another dose of kids’ art, this time related to endangered species. An art contest was recently completed in concert with the 13th annual Endangered Species Day, which was this past Friday.
Image: Endangered Species Coalition
More than 1,500 students from around the United States entered this year’s “Saving Endangered Species Youth Art Contest,” according to organizers. The goal of the contest is to encourage public appreciation for imperiled wildlife and to increase support for saving endangered species.
“The artwork created by this generation of young people is clearly demonstrating how they think deeply about the plight of endangered species,” said Leda Huta, executive director of the Endangered Species Coalition, which sponsors the contest. “It is clear that they recognize not just our role in impacting wildlife and plants, but also our opportunities to bring them back from the brink of extinction. Each work of art is an inspiration to all of us to do more, to save more,” she said in a statement.
Image: Endangered Species Coalition
The grand prize winner is Brandon Xie, a fourth-grader in Lexington, Mass. He received his award last week in Washington, D.C., during a reception of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. His prize will include art supplies and a lesson from a professional wildlife artist.
The first-place winner in the art contest is Erin Dong, a ninth grader from Santa Clara, Calif. Top winners in the various grade categories:
- Kindergarten-second grade: Sean Lam, a first-grader in Great Neck, N.Y.
- Grades 3-5: : Kyle Xu, a third-grader in East Brunswick, N.J.
- Grades 6-8: Maggie Wu, a sixth-grader in Great Neck, N.Y.
- Grades 9-12: Colin Phillips, an 11th-grader in Ikemos, Mich.
See all the winners on the Endangered Species Coalition website.
Image: Endangered Species Coalition
Contest winners were selected by a panel of prestigious artists, photographers and conservationists, who first narrowed down the entries to 40 semi-finalists (10 for each category). The artwork can be viewed by following links on the Endangered Species Coalition website.
Judges included Wyland, a renowned marine life artist; Jack Hanna, host of Jack Hanna’s Into the Wild; David Littschwager, a freelance photographer and contributor to National Geographic Magazine; Susan Middletown, a photographer whose work has been published in four books; and Alice Tangerini, botanical illustrator for the Smithsonian Institution.
The Endangered Species Coalition recently celebrated the successful recovery of 12 listed species. The 12 species and their descriptions can be found on the ESC blog:
- Bald eagle
- American alligator
- Green sea turtle
- Piping plover
- Peregrine falcon
- Channel Island fox
- Humpback whale
- Puerto Rican parrot
- Robbins’ Cinquefoil
- Whooping crane
- Brown pelican
- California condor
