Local Students Win Ocean Protection Contest
LOCAL STUDENTS WIN AWARD IN INTERNATIONAL ARTS COMPETITION HIGHLIGHTING CLIMATE HOPE
(Potomac, Maryland) – Students from Herbert Hoover
Middle School have won Bronze Award for their
Interactive and Multimedia submission to the 2020
Ocean Awareness Contest, sponsored by Bow Seat Ocean
Awareness Programs (Bow Seat). The students, who entered
the Contest as members of Ocean League, are: Michelle Tan,
Lumina Zhang, and Hannah You.
Ocean League, who was selected from approximately 5,300
entries from around the world, received a $250 total cash
scholarship. Ocean League also will be featured in Bow Seat’s
Gallery, which showcases ocean advocacy artwork created by
a global community of youth.
The 2020 Ocean Awareness Contest challenged participants to create a piece that shares their ideas for confronting the climate emergency and emphasizes the role of hope in making meaningful change. Ocean League’s Interactive and Multimedia submission, titled “Ocean League,” focused on protecting our ocean through various ways such as creating recycled material art, writing stories, making videos, and so much more.
Bow Seat’s annual Ocean Awareness Contest, now in its tenth year, is an award-winning educational program that provides students with a platform to creatively explore, express, and advocate for issues related to our oceans and waterways. Since its launch, the Contest has engaged more than 18,000 middle and high schoolers from all 50 U.S. states and more than 100 countries. Bow Seat has awarded over $425,000 in scholarships to help advance teens’ creative talents and passion for the environment.
“Without a doubt, 2020 has been a challenging year with interconnected health, social, and environmental crises affecting us all,” said Linda Cabot, founder and president of Bow Seat. “It was appropriate, then, that the 2020 Contest theme—hope—compelled participants to imagine a better future for people and our shared planet, and inspired them to explore solutions to bring this vision to life.
“We are proud that this program not only provided so many students around the world with the opportunity to learn about climate change, but that it also instilled in them a greater sense of agency to actively fight the crisis,” continued Cabot. “Despite the disruptions and distractions they faced this year, students like the members of Ocean League used their creative voices to speak out for our oceans and our future. We are proud and incredibly excited to support their work.”
The 2021 Ocean Awareness Contest, “Water Rising,” is open now through June 14, 2021, to students ages 11-18 worldwide.
About Bow Seat Ocean Awareness Programs: Bow Seat is a Massachusetts-based nonprofit whose mission is to engage youth in ocean conservation and advocacy through the arts. Visit bowseat.org for more information about Bow Seat’s programs, educational resources, and gallery of student artwork and creative media.
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Ocean League Winning Website: https://zhanglumina.wixsite.com/oceanleague
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Ocean League Email: oceanleagueprotection@gmail.com