Children's Art and Story Competition

Sometimes a message from children with their fresh and lively way of seeing the world can cut through and appeal to the heart. There are many Wild Homes out there in the bush, the creeks, the beaches, and deserts that desperately need protecting. If you have a child under 13, they can help us tell the world and the Government how important Saving Wild Homes is. They can do this by:

1) Drawing or painting a colourful picture of one of our unique native animals that love to make their homes in our Protected Areas and National Parks, or

2) Writing a story about one of your special Wild Home moments and draw or paint a picture to illustrate it, or

3) Select one of our stories in our Saving Wild Homes Art Competition booklet and complete it with a colourful drawing or painting. Written by volunteer Daryll Bellingham, you can find and download the booklet here. 

Our national parks are home to more wild plants and animals than any other state or territory in Australia, but we also have the smallest area of protected land. With so much of Queensland's wildlife now under threat, we urgently need to step up and protect their homes as First Nations people have for tens of thousands of years. Please find out more about our National Parks for Life campaign here.

Please encourage your child to draw or paint us a colourful picture of Queensland wild animals and their Wild Homes and enter it in the Qld Conservation Council's Saving Wild Homes Art and Stories Competition.

Feel free to share this among your friends, school and networks. Get in touch if you would like more info before sharing. [email protected]

Entering in the competition

To submit your child's artwork and story for judging, you will need to create a digital copy of your original artwork, and please aim for A4 (3510 x 2490 pixels, 300dpi) in size. This can be a photograph or scanned copy of your work but should not use any digital modification.


Please enter the competition by clicking above to access the entry form. In addition, a parent or legal guardian must fill out the Registration Form.

                         

Important Dates

Entries open: 1st of September

Entries close: 15th of October 

People's Choice award voting: 18th October - 29th of October 

Art Exhibition: TBC

Once the competition is closed we will be holding an art exhibition to celebrate the importance of protected areas. The exhibition will also be an announcement of the winners. We will provide details  on the location/format and date of this exhibition soon.   

Judging of the Artwork

Your child's artwork will be judged against the criteria listed in the Terms and Conditions.

Remember, it won't just be how good your child is at painting or drawing, but whether they can communicate that animals need a home too and that we must protect these places. 

We will also announce a People's Choice award that will allow the public to determine which artwork they enjoy the most and that expresses the importance of protected areas for providing habitat for wildlife.

First, second and third prizes will be awarded in the age categories (under 8, 8-13). There will also be a prize for the best-illustrated story and the artwork that wins the people's choice award.

Entrants could win, generously donated prizes including:

- Book vouchers

- Art packs

- Family Pass to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary 

- Accommodation for the whole Family near a national park 

                      

Tips for the Artist 

You can draw or paint an animal that makes its home anywhere in Queensland especially if its home is in danger from habitat loss.

Make sure it is a drawing or painting or mixed media. You can use felt pens, pencils, watercolour, oils, pastel, acrylic or mixed media in your artwork just make sure it has lots of bright colour.

How you do your drawing or painting is up to you, but it must be:

  • created by you and not created by someone else, such as a parent or family member or a copy of someone else’s artwork.
  • a drawing or painting, and not a photograph, video or digital work. 

Please keep your original in a safe place, we may ask to exhibit the prize winners.

Please tell us  in up to 100 words why you chose the animal to draw or paint, what it means to you and why it might be threatened. You can get help if you need it from a parent, guardian or teacher to write this description.

When you are creating your artwork think about how you feel about this animal and try to capture that in your artwork in some way.

Remember you want to attract the attention of people to your artwork so you want to make it stand out.