Sri Lanka is hosting the 18th Conference of Parties to the Convention on International Trade on Endangered Species (CITES) in 2019. During this conference Sri Lanka will host environmentalists from 183 countries, which represent the largest international gathering ever to meet in this country. This gathering would be an excellent platform for Sri Lanka’s young environmentalists to express their views on the environment they will inherit from today’s decision makers. The Field Ornithology group of Sri Lanka of University of Colombo and the SPEARS Foundation are organizing a Children’s Art Competition and a Street Parade in conjunction with this conference with the goal of creating an opportunity for school children to express their views and create awareness about environmental conservation.
Art Competition:
The competition has been approved by the Ministry of Education (ED/01/12/01/11/(IV)) and is open to all Sri Lankan school children. Artwork submitted for the competition will be judged by a panel of well-known local artists according to three school grade categories; grades 1 to 5, 6 to 9, and 10 to 13. The artwork will also be judged by the way it represents one of the following environmental themes.
- Threats to biodiversity (Pollution, habitat destruction, Illegal hunting and trade of plants and animals )
- Conservation and sustainable use of land resources.
- Conservation and sustainable use of aquatic resources.
Children of each grade category will receive Rs.25,000, Rs. 20,000, and Rs. 15,000 for three of the best artwork in each environmental theme. Twenty-five more contestants whose artwork is listed by the judges as Honorable Mentions will receive Rs. 5000 each.
Competition Rules
- Each student may submit a maximum of one artwork for each of the three environmental themes.
- Size of the art work should be A3. (29.7 x 42.0 cm, or 11.69 x 16.53 inches)
- Drawing papers, Bristol boards, canvas, box board etc. can be used to create the artwork.
- The artwork should be original, drawn by hand and created without assistance of mechanical devices, computer programs or digital tools.
- The art work may be drawn in pencil, pen, charcoal, or crayon, or painted in pastel, watercolor, gouache, acrylics, oils, poster color and collage etc.
- The artwork must be signed by the Principal, class teacher or art teacher and certified as the original unassisted work of the student whose full name, age, grade, school, address, contact phone number and environmental theme of artwork must be included on the back of the artwork. It should also state that if the artwork is selected, the organizers can use it to create posters, placards, publications and in other ways to promote environmental awareness. Please do not write on the front of the artwork.
- Children with special needs may be assisted in their work by their parents, guardians, or teachers. Type of assistance given must be described.
- Entries that do not comply with the contest rules and submission requirements will be rejected.
- The judges’ decision will be the final decision. Children who win awards will be notified of their success by the organizers.
- The artwork submitted for the competition will not be returned.
- The completed artworks should be posted or delivered on or before 30th November 2018 to the following address
“Children’s art competition” PO Box 1490, Field Ornithology Group of Sri Lanka, Department of Zoology and Environment Sciences, University of Colombo, Kumaratunga Munidasa Mawatha, Colombo 03.
A selection of artwork submitted for the competition will be displayed between 9.00 am to 7.00 pm from 26 February to March 2, 2019 at the J.D.A. Perera Exhibition Hall, 46 Horton Place, Colombo 7. A street parade called ‘March for Mother Nature’ which will be a procession of school children and well-wishers displaying placards made of the exhibition’s award-winning paintings will be held in early June 2019 to coincide with the CITES conference.
For more details and clarifications please contact the Field Ornithology Group of Sri Lanka on 0112501332, fogsl1976@gmail.com or by post on the following address “Children’s art competition”, PO Box 1490, Field Ornithology Group of Sri Lanka, Department of Zoology and Environment Sciences, University of Colombo, Kumaratunga Munidasa Mawatha, Colombo 03.