The Funny Thing About Climate Change: Bow Seat’s 2022 Ocean Awareness Contest Challenges Teens to Use Humor and Other Unconventional Approaches to Raise Awareness of the Climate Crisis
September 1, 2021Featured Student Artist: “Dy(e)ing Coral” by Sophie Blankenship, 18, North Carolina
(Boston, MA) – Bow Seat Ocean Awareness Programs (Bow Seat) is excited to launch its 11th annual Ocean Awareness Contest, an international arts competition that invites youth to explore the connections between human activities and the health of our ocean, and to inspire action to protect our blue planet. The 2022 Contest, “The Funny Thing About Climate Change,” challenges students to create innovative pieces that subvert expectations for what climate change messaging typically looks like through fresh approaches such as humor, satire, parody, irony, avant-garde, and positivity.
The Ocean Awareness Contest is open now through June 13, 2022, to teens ages 11-18 worldwide. Submissions are accepted in visual and performing arts, poetry and spoken word, creative writing, film, and multimedia. Winners will be selected from each category and receive awards of up to $1,500 each.
“The ocean makes life on Earth possible and is one of our biggest tools to fight climate change, but we need to protect it if we are to have a chance at reversing the climate crisis,” said Linda Cabot, founder and president of Bow Seat. “With warming happening even faster than scientists previously thought, catastrophic changes are happening on Earth—from sea level rise and coral bleaching to more intense floods, droughts, wildfires, and hurricanes than ever before. It’s a dire situation made worse by misinformation, doomism, politicization, and apathy.
“Although climate change is no laughing matter, studies have shown that humor can break down barriers, offering a safe way for people to approach, understand, and start conversations about divisive topics,” continued Cabot. “Our 2022 Contest provides students with a platform to use humor or other unfamiliar or unexpected approaches to raise awareness of climate change, empower people, and instill hope, without minimizing or undermining its severity.”
Since 2011, more than 24,000 students from over 130 countries and all 50 U.S. states have participated in the Ocean Awareness Contest. Bow Seat has awarded nearly $445,000 in scholarships to help advance teens’ creative talents and passion for the environment, as well as to educators who use the Contest as a tool to teach students about conservation issues, apply classroom learning to real-world problems, and build students’ research and communication skills.
As part of Bow Seat’s long-term commitment to increase engagement among those who are most affected but often underrepresented in conservation efforts, especially voices of color, Bow Seat offers the We All Rise Prize, awards totaling $15,000 specifically for 2022 Contest participants in the U.S. who self-identify as Black, Indigenous, or Latina/o/e. Only 20 percent of Contest participants last year identified as members of any of these demographic groups, compared to 45 percent who identified as Asian and and 30 percent who identified as White.
To support students’ participation in the Contest, Bow Seat curates a unique, online Resource Studio that offers an interdisciplinary educational experience—using inspirational artwork, videos, journalistic media, primary literature, interactive quizzes, and more—to help students learn about climate change and its impact on the ocean, as well as how humor and other fresh approaches can be used as powerful science communications tools. It also includes a new skills-based section with educational information and tips on art-making, filmmaking, spoken word, storytelling, and more. In addition, the Resource Studio provides educators with innovative lesson plans, classroom activities, and suggested reading to help them incorporate the Contest into their physical or virtual classrooms and meet important educational standards across disciplines.
“We are proud of our role in educating and empowering young creators with the skills, tools, and confidence to inspire positive change in their communities,” said Cabot. “For more than a decade, the Contest has helped to build a strong conservation ethic among students and strengthened 21st Century skills such as communication, critical thinking, creativity, and global awareness.”
According to feedback surveys from the 2021 Contest: 80% of students reported that the program increased their knowledge of water-related issues, and 71% stated that it impacted their worldview and behavior. 87% reported that creating something for the Contest (i.e., art, writing, music, films, or multimedia) helped them personally connect with conservation topics. 76% report that the Contest increased their confidence in their creative skills. Results from sponsor feedback surveys corroborated the findings from the student surveys, demonstrating that the Contest was an effective tool for increasing students’ interest in and knowledge of environmental issues, and for strengthening their desire to make a difference in the world.
For more information about the 2022 Ocean Awareness Contest, go to www.bowseat.org/contest.
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About Bow Seat Ocean Awareness Programs: Bow Seat is a Massachusetts-based nonprofit that engages youth in ocean conservation and advocacy through the arts. Visit bowseat.org for more information about Bow Seat’s programs, educational resources, and global collection of student artwork.