The 2025 Ocean Awareness Contest, with its inspiring theme "Connections to Nature: Looking Inside, Going Outside," challenges students worldwide aged 11–18 to creatively explore and express their relationships with the natural world. Participants are encouraged to use diverse artistic mediums, including visual arts such as painting, drawing, photography, and sculpture, literary expressions like poetry, essays, and creative narratives, as well as multimedia formats such as film, music, dance, digital interactive works, and spoken word poetry. The contest promotes critical thinking and deepens participants’ understanding of ecological interconnectedness, ocean conservation, biodiversity, climate change, and sustainable practices, empowering youth to become active environmental stewards.
Each entry should thoughtfully reflect on personal or communal connections with nature, highlighting insights, reflections, and solutions to pressing environmental challenges affecting the oceans and the broader ecosystem. Through engaging artistic storytelling and meaningful environmental advocacy, the contest fosters awareness about critical issues such as marine pollution, habitat destruction, endangered marine life, ocean acidification, and the human impacts contributing to climate change. Students are encouraged not only to articulate current ecological problems but also to imagine innovative and practical solutions for sustainable living and ocean stewardship.
By participating in the 2025 Ocean Awareness Contest, students have the unique opportunity to amplify their voices on a global stage, advocating for environmental justice and inspiring collective action. The contest not only recognizes outstanding creative talents with substantial awards but also facilitates the development of leadership skills, environmental literacy, and community engagement. It serves as a platform for youth to connect with a global network of peers, educators, activists, and organizations dedicated to environmental sustainability, ultimately fostering a new generation committed to preserving and protecting the planet’s oceans and natural habitats for future generations.
There is no entry fee.
Eligibility
Open to students aged 11–18 enrolled in middle or high school (or homeschool equivalent) worldwide; college or university students are not eligible.
Prize
Participants can win cash awards up to $1,000, with prizes distributed across Junior (ages 11–14) and Senior (ages 15–18) divisions in categories such as Gold ($1,000), Silver ($750), Bronze ($500), Pearl ($250), and Honorable Mention ($100). Additional special awards include the We All Rise Prize, offering five $500 awards in each division to U.S. students who identify as Black, Indigenous, and/or Latine, and the Smithsonian Creativity in Resilience Award, granting ten $250 awards per division for works exemplifying resilience. Other recognitions include the Voice of the Sea Award for outstanding spoken word poetry and the Bay State Award for Massachusetts-based participants.
