Applications are invited for the Bow Seat Ocean Awareness Contest 2024. The last date for registration is June 10, 2024.

About the 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. 

Eligibility Criteria

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.

Students can participate as an individual or as a club, class, or group of any size. All students must provide the contact information for an Adult Sponsor (teacher, parent, mentor, etc.) Students who have started college or university are not eligible to participate in the Contest.

Benefits

  • Gain knowledge about climate change and its relationship to and impact on our changing world. Dive into Bow Seat’s Resource Studio to learn more about the issues; find artists and organizations taking action to protect our blue planet; and discover ways that you can get involved.
  • Grow your skills in communication, critical thinking, creativity, and environmental advocacy. Use your artwork to raise awareness for critical environmental issues.
  • Build your portfolio and make art in your preferred medium, or practice a new one! Add to your resume with a participation certificate.
  • Showcase your talents worldwide. Through art exhibitions, publications, social media campaigns, and scholarships, Bow Seat uplifts diverse youth voices to advance dialogue and participation in environmental conservation and advocacy.
  • Join Bow Seat’s global community of over 30,000 young people who care about the ocean, environmental justice, and climate action, and contribute to the largest youth environmental arts collection in the world. 
  • Be eligible for special opportunities, like the Future Blue Youth Council. Past program participants also serve as Bow Seat interns and Contest judges!
  • Earn cash awards of up to $1,000!

How to Apply?

  • Interested students can submit their entries via this link.

Submissions are accepted in:

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

Please review all submission requirements carefully. 

Submission Deadline

June 10, 2024.

Click here to view the official notification of the Bow Seat Ocean Awareness Contest 2024.