Georgia’s Give Wildlife a Chance Poster Contest
Teachers and students across Georgia can celebrate Georgia’s wildlife and students’ artistic interests by participating in this year’s Give Wildlife a Chance Poster Contest.
Whether exploring their schoolyard and backyard environments or taking a field trip to a park, nature center or botanical garden, students are encouraged to share their plant and animal discoveries through art in the 23rd annual conservation poster contest.
This year’s theme, “Everyone Can Be a Citizen Scientist,”
encourages students to explore, observe and record data about the natural world. Citizen science projects offer the public a chance to contribute to important scientific studies. Project BudBurst, Project FeederWatch, NestWatch and other citizen science opportunities help students learn about our state’s magnificent native plant and nongame animals.
Nongame species, those not legally hunted or fished for, vary from rare animals and plants such as the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker and the hooded pitcherplant to common species such as the northern cardinal and flowering dogwood.
Entries in the state-level contest must be postmarked by March 27, 2013. The event is sponsored by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources’ Nongame Conservation Section, the State Botanical Garden of Georgia and The Environmental Resources Network, or TERN, friends group of the Nongame Conservation Section.
The contest is open to kindergarten through fifth-grade students in public schools, private schools and homeschool groups. Participants enter at the local school level with drawings that depict their observations of Georgia’s native nongame animals and plants.
Top school-level entries proceed to the state contest at the State Botanical Garden of Georgia in Athens. First-, second- and third-place winners are chosen there for four divisions: kindergarten, first and second grade, third and fourth grade, and fifth grade.
The top 12 winners’ artwork will be showcased on the DNR Wildlife Resources Division Flickr website (www.flickr.com/photos/wildliferesourcesdivision), and displayed at the Go Fish Education Center in Perry from April 26-May 12. The Go Fish Education Center offers an educational journey through Georgia’s watersheds. Visit www.gofisheducationcenter.com for hours, fees and other details.
The goal of the Give Wildlife a Chance Poster Contest is to generate a greater knowledge and appreciation of Georgia’s diverse and increasingly threatened nongame wildlife and their habitats. Only a deep concern and commitment to these wild places will ensure their existence for future generations.
Visit www.georgiawildlife.com/PosterContest or http://botgarden.uga.edu for contest rules, entry forms and further information about the 23rd annual Give Wildlife a Chance Poster Contest. DNR’s Nongame Conservation Section, the State Botanical Garden of Georgia and TERN have sponsored more than two decades of nongame wildlife exploration, education and art with the annual contest.
The Nongame Conservation Section, part of DNR’s Wildlife Resources Division, is charged with conserving all nongame wildlife, including native plants and natural habitats. The section receives no state general funds for nongame work, depending instead on fundraisers such as the sale of the eagle and hummingbird license plates and the Give Wildlife a Chance state income tax checkoff.
