Bow Seat Announces Winners of 2016 Ocean Awareness Student Contest
October 27, 2016Celebrating the creative talents of young ocean caretakers worldwide, this week Bow Seat Ocean Awareness Programs (Bow Seat) announced all middle and high school winners of the 2016 Ocean Awareness Student Contest.
Bow Seat’s annual Ocean Awareness Student Contest, now in its sixth year, challenges students to research, interpret, and express their views about ocean pollution through the creative arts. Nearly 4,000 middle and high schoolers worldwide have participated in the Contest since its inception, and Bow Seat has awarded more than $100,000 in scholarships to talented youth.
This year, the Ocean Awareness Student Contest invited students to create visual art, film, poetry, or prose around the theme “Making Meaning out of Ocean Pollution” to communicate the connections between human activities and our oceans’ deteriorating health. More than 2,100 entries from 67 countries and 44 U.S. states were submitted.
The Gold Award high school winners are:
- Art – Antonella Masini (Lima, Peru)
- Art – Jennifer Tsogtsaikhan (Denver, Colorado)
- Film – Lauren Krikorian (San Francisco, California)
- Poetry – Elizabeth Chung (New York, New York)
- Poetry – Melba Nuzen (San Diego, California)
- Prose – Crystal Chan and Michelle Fung (Arcadia, California)
- Prose – India LaPalme (Mobile, Alabama)
The Gold Award middle school winners are:
- Art – Tammy Feng (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada)
- Art – Maxwell Sagermann (Santa Barbara, California)
- Film – Abigail Batinga (Seattle, Washington)
- Poetry – Opefoluwa Sarah Adegbite (Woldingham, Surrey, United Kingdom)
- Poetry – Jyothika Manoj (Muscat, Oman)
- Prose – Udayan Saha (Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India)
High school Gold Award winners each received a $1,500 award; middle school winners, $1,000. In addition, Bow Seat provided Gold Award winners’ schools with a donation ($1,500 for high school; $750 for middle school) to acknowledge their important, on-the-ground work supporting students who want to use their creative talents to raise awareness of ocean pollution issues.
Bow Seat also presented $750 Sponsor Recognition Awards to caring adults who were nominated by Contest participants as people who helped to change students’ lives and the world for the better.
“We are so honored to work with such talented and passionate youth, educators, and parents, and we are so proud of all of our participants” said Linda Cabot, founder and president of Bow Seat. “The overwhelming number and quality of the submissions that we received from around the world confirms that we are all connected by water – it is a common element that unites us all.
“Through our programs, we aim to empower youth to think creatively about solutions to ocean pollution. We believe that students who learn by ‘creating’ experience deeper learning and longer-lasting behavior change. Their submissions demonstrate how the arts are a powerful tool to tap into human emotions in a meaningful way that inspires others to take action.”
Besides sponsoring the annual Contest, Bow Seat seeks out opportunities to help students launch into the “artivist” world by expanding the reach of their work. Bow Seat secures exhibition spaces to showcase students’ work, and creates and sells merchandise featuring winners’ creations, with 100 percent of proceeds going to the artist and ocean conservation partners.
Bow Seat also recently received a grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Marine Debris Program to launch the inaugural Marine Debris Creative Advocacy Competition, which challenges middle and high school students from the United States to implement advocacy and outreach projects in their schools and communities. The 2017 Marine Debris Creative Advocacy Competition is now open.
To see, read, and watch all of the winning 2016 Ocean Awareness Student Contest submissions, go to www.bowseat.org.