Phoenix Fund 16th International Amur leopard and tiger art contest – Results Announced!
Read this latest blog from the team……
We are glad to announce the results of the 16th annual art contest for children. The Phoenix Fund with financial support from the WildCats Conservation Alliance, David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation and Tiger and Leopard Conservation Fund in Korea held the contest to reach children and help raise awareness about the importance of tiger and leopard conservation.
This year, 1,608 children submitted their artwork, 1,461 of which met all entry requirements. The art entries were submitted for the contest with two themes: “The Amur Leopard – 2022” and “The Year of the Tiger – 2022”.
“Conservation of wild big cats – the Amur tiger and the Amur leopard – is a global issue and we believe that engaging our youth is an important part of addressing the problem. The resulting calendar, featuring the winning artwork, provides a daily reminder of how important it is for us to be responsible stewards of these rare and endangered creatures”, comments Alexander Vrisch, Phoenix Fund’s educational projects’ co-ordinator.
The jury consisted of representatives of protected areas and educators faced the difficult task – they had to select 54 best drawings to be used for each calendar month, which will be featured in 2022 calendars. Russian artist and art teacher of children’s art school №5 Dmitry Proskuryakov was invited as an expert to help the jury.
“We are excited to see that the tiger and leopard conservation issue does not leave children indifferent. Every year we see that children try to convey good and warm feelings towards tigers and leopards and their concern about the fate of these rare cats through pieces of art. If we educate people from early childhood to love our planet and take care of the environment through emotional empathy then emphatic emotions will be the component that will help us change people’s minds and attitude towards conservation of both separate species and the whole nature”, says Alexander Vrisch.
Due to COVID pandemic, the number of entries has decreased slightly, while at the same time the number of regions engaged in the contest has increased. The entries were submitted from the following areas: Primorsky, Khabarovsky and Stavropolsky krais, Chelyabinskaya, Voronezhskaya, Amurskaya and Jewish Autonomous provinces, Saint Petersburg, Donetsk People’s Republic, Mongolia and the Republic of Korea.
We would like to thank the WildCats Conservation Alliance, David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation, and Tiger and Leopard Conservation Fund in Korea for financial support of this project.
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