Youth artists across the world are being called to get creative for wildlife. The fifth annual international youth art contest is being hosted by IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare) in collaboration with the Secretariat of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
The 2023 WWD theme of ‘Partnerships for Wildlife Conservation’ highlights people making a difference for wildlife—whether at the local, national, or global scale.
The art contest focuses on species that have benefited from people working together to protect and conserve them. These partnerships can range from community members working together to protect wildlife around them, to scientists working together to understand and correct critical threats to survival, to wildlife groups and governments working with others to protect and improve habitat for species to thrive.
Open to artists from the ages of four-18, entrants will choose a species that has benefited from these partnerships, and then illustrate it as an individual animal or in its native habitat. The contest taps into the immense creativity of the world’s youth through artwork and builds upon the growing success from previous contests — with more than 1500 entries received last year from nearly 60 countries across the globe.
Entry opens on January 9th, 2023, and artists must submit their artwork electronically by 11:59 p.m. GMT on February 6th, 2023. All entries must be original and created by hand using markers, crayons, colored pencils and/or paint. Twelve semi-finalists from different age groups and one separate grand prize winner will be selected by a prestigious international panel of judges.
The 2022 winner was 13-year-old Yanjun Mao of China with his piece entitled ‘Return Home’. Previous winners have hailed from Hong Kong, Australia and the United States. The 2023 winner will be announced at the annual UN-hosted World Wildlife Day event. World Wildlife Day is celebrated annually on March 3rd and in 2023 falls on the 50th anniversary of CITES.
For more information about this year’s World Wildlife Day and virtual event, visit https://wildlifeday.org.
Note to the editors:
Images from previous WWD international youth art contests can be found here.
Press contact:
IFAW – Rodger Correa / [email protected] / +202 834 6637
CITES – David Whitbourn / [email protected] / +41 79 552 1507
UNDP – Sangita Khadka / [email protected] / +212 906 5043
Additional links:
- World Wildlife Day (#WWD)
- International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW)
- Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES)
- United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
- More UN Competitions and Contests.