Deadline:
June 09, 2025
Location(s)
Online
Overview
The 14th 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.
Details
2025 Theme | Connections to Nature: Looking Inside, Going Outside
A CREATIVE CHALLENGE FOR TEENS WORLDWIDE
Connections to Nature: Looking Inside, Going Outside Prompt
The 2025 Ocean Awareness Contest – Connections to Nature: Looking Inside, Going Outside – encourages you to explore the natural world and your place in it. We invite you to think about your unique connection to nature and how being outside makes you feel. There are so many different ways that you can connect to nature, whether that’s exploring the history of the land you live on, volunteering in the fight against climate change, or taking a restorative walk in your local park. Go through the sub-themes and explore the topics that resonate with you. Share your relationship with the natural world through art, writing, performance, film, or multimedia. What is your connection to nature?
The Contest deadline is June 9, 2025.
Contest winners will be announced by December 1, 2025.
A NEW CHALLENGE
Last year, we asked you to tell your climate story – your personal experiences, insights, and perceptions about our changing climate reality. Your connection to nature may relate to your climate story, but there’s so much more to nature than climate change! We challenge you to dive into this year’s theme and explore your connection to the natural world through the lenses of:
- Generational Knowledge
- Concrete Jungle
- Resilience
- Healthy Environments, Healthy Humans
We hope that these sub-themes can serve as jumping off points, prompting you toward further exploration! Be sure to check out our past winners and explore our broader Resource Studio for ideas and guidance.
Our Resource Studio is a unique space for creative exploration and a jumping-off point for deep inquiry of climate change, ocean conservation, and using art and creativity as tools in environmental movements.
Opportunity is About
Eligibility
Candidates should be from:
Description of Ideal Candidate
Who May Enter
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.
Submissions are accepted in:
- Visual Art: Handcrafted
- Visual Art: Digital
- Poetry & Spoken Word
- Creative Writing
- Film
- Performing Arts: Music & Dance
- Interactive & Multimedia
Dates
Deadline: June 09, 2025
Cost/funding for participants
Why participate?
- Join Bow Seat’s global movement of over 38,000 young creatives who care about the ocean, environmental justice, and climate action, and contribute to the largest youth environmental arts collection in the world.
- Gain knowledge about environmental issues, nature, and your relationship with the world around you. 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.
- 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!
Un-save Opportunity
Internships, scholarships, student conferences and competitions.
