Bethel Student Wins Award In Int'l Climate Change Art Contest

BETHEL, CT — Anna Kopec, a student at Immaculate High School in Danbury, has won a Pearl Award for her art submission to the 2019 Ocean Awareness Contest, sponsored by Bow Seat Ocean Awareness Programs. She was selected from more than 3,500 entries from around the world and received a $150 cash scholarship. Kopec also will be featured in Bow Seat’s Gallery, which showcases ocean advocacy artwork created by a global community of youth.

Bow Seat is a Massachusetts-based nonprofit whose mission is to engage youth in ocean conservation and advocacy through the arts.

The 2019 Ocean Awareness Contest invited students to create visual art, films, music, poetry, or prose about a species, place, or system being impacted by climate change. Kopec’s Art submission, titled "Beautiful," focused on plastic pollution and its impact on oceans' wildlife habitat.

Bow Seat's annual Ocean Awareness Contest, now in its ninth year, is an educational program for students to creatively explore, express, and advocate for issues related to our oceans and waterways. Since its launch, the contest has engaged more than 12,000 middle and high schoolers from 106 countries and all 50 U.S. states. Bow Seat has awarded $300,000 in scholarships to help advance teens’ creative talents and passion for the environment.

"Our participants' moving tributes to threatened wildlife and places special to them demonstrate how all of us are affected by the climate crisis, no matter where in the world we live," said Linda Cabot, founder and president of Bow Seat. "We are proud that the Ocean Awareness Contest provides a platform for youth to speak up for the health of our oceans through the arts, which is a powerful and effective way to make the science of climate change personal, relevant, and accessible. We are thrilled that Anna has joined our growing global community of young creators, who are an important part of the youth movement taking creative leadership to help protect our blue planet."

The 2020 Ocean Awareness Contest, "Climate Hope: Transforming Crisis," is open now through June 15, 2020, to students ages 11-18 worldwide.