Bow Seat Ocean Awareness Contest

The 13th annual Ocean Awareness Contest is a platform for young people to learn about environmental issues through art-making and creative communication, explore their relationship to a changing world, and become advocates for positive change. Students ages 11-18 from around the world are invited to participate.

The 2024 Ocean Awareness Contest – Tell Your Climate Story – encourages you to become a climate witness and share your own unique climate story. We are asking you to creatively express your personal experiences, insights, or perceptions about our changing climate reality. Use this opportunity to learn about the climate crisis and how it impacts your family and community, and to examine your individual responses to our evolving world. The Contest deadline is June 10, 2024.

Contest Overview

The 13th annual Ocean Awareness Contest is a platform for young people to learn about environmental issues through art-making and creative communication, explore their relationship to a changing world, and become advocates for positive change. Students ages 11-18 from around the world are invited to participate.

2024 Theme | Tell Your Climate Story

A CREATIVE CHALLENGE FOR TEENS WORLDWIDE

Climate Change is Here

We all experience climate change differently depending on where we live. As global temperatures rise, our weather patterns change, causing heat waves, drought, flooding, hurricanes, and more. While Kenya endured a fifth year of drought, Pakistan experienced unprecedented floods. Wildfires in Canada and the US have become a regular summer occurrence, but for islands in the Pacific, like Kiribati, sea level rise threatens their land and freshwater resources.

Perhaps you did not get any snow days last year due to an uncharacteristically warm winter, or you couldn’t go to the beach due to harmful algal blooms. Maybe your favorite animal is at risk of losing its habitat, or your favorite foods are becoming harder to find at the grocery store. These are all symptoms of climate change.

Tell Your Climate Story Prompt

Think about climate issues and solutions and consider how they have affected you or your community. Find something that resonates deeply with your experiences – perhaps a climate impact you witnessed, an initiative that you’ve participated in, or a source of strength and inspiration when thinking about the climate crisis. Share your personal climate story through art, writing, performance, film, or multimedia. What is the story that you’d like to tell?

Note: We are asking specifically about climate change and not other environmental concerns, like plastic pollution, oil spills, and overfishing. If you do choose to address these issues, make sure that you research how they connect to climate change and incorporate that into your submission.

Students ages 11-18 from around the world are invited to participate in the Ocean Awareness Contest. Enter the division based on your age at the time of entry:

• Junior Division: Age 11-14
• Senior Division: Age 15-18

Submissions are accepted in:

• Visual Art: Handcrafted
• Visual Art: Digital
• Poetry & Spoken Word
• Creative Writing
• Film
• Performing Arts: Music & Dance
• Interactive & Multimedia