About the 2018 Contest

Earth’s climate is changing.  Kids need to know what is happening, why, and how it will affect them in the future.  This contest offers you a chance to share what you know about climate change with other kids around the world, as well as teachers and scientists.

The Earth is heating up because carbon dioxide in the atmosphere acts like a blanket, trapping the sun’s energy (hear it from a kid).  Most of this heat is going into the oceans.  The warming that has already happened is easiest to see in the melting ice of the polar regions (where penguins live) and among coral reefs that die when the water is too hot for too long.  Penguins and coral reefs are like the Earth’s ‘early warning’ system!

If you are between 5 and 14 years old, you are very welcome to enter!  And please tell all your friends all about it.  They can enter too – and they can vote for your drawing.  And tell your teacher in case he/she will let you do it in class.  You can also watch videos of the entries.

What do I have to do to enter?

  • Think about what you love most or most want to save about penguins (or polar regions) and/or coral reefs.  (learn more)
  • Create your drawing (watch some helpful ‘how to draw’ videos)
  • Give your drawing a short title.
  • Think of one or two sentences explaining why you drew what you did.
  • Take a high quality photo of the drawing – a picture with a phone is fine as long as it is clear and high resolution.
  • Submit your entry via the ‘Submit’ button before 28 October.  You might need an adult to help you.
  • Each person can only submit one drawing.

I am a teacher. How can I help?

  • Set aside time for students to complete their entries during class and help them submit them.
  • Set aside time for students to visit the contest web site, view the drawings, and ‘like’ their favourites as well as leave comments.  
  • Visit the contest web site and ‘like’ your favourite drawings and leave comments.
  • Share the contest with other teachers and kids!
  • Subscribe to the YouTube channel for videos about the contest as well as relevant teaching materials.

I am a scientist. What can I do?

  • Visit the contest web site regularly and ‘like’ drawings.
  • Offer comments to kids based on their drawings.
  • Share the contest with other scientists, teachers and kids!

What are the prizes?

What are the prizes?

  • Every entry will:
    • May be featured in a YouTube video, a FB post or a tweet on the day or week it is submitted.
    • Be printed onto fabric to make a large flag to be displayed in Antarctica during my voyage (Jan 2019), and shown in a video with the name and school of every entrant.
    • Get a copy of the book ‘Zobi and the Zoox’ or ‘Polar Eyes’ from CSIRO for their school library, while supplies last and only if their school doesn’t already have a copy.
  • Popular entries may win one of:
    • A postcard from Antarctica
    • A personal copy of Dr. Suzie Starfish’s new book The Great Barrier Thief
    • Be included in a book of drawings to be published in 2019/2020.
  • The most popular entry will:
    • Be printed onto a t-shirt for sale on-line.  75% of the proceeds will go to the winner’s school and 25% to support the contest into the future.

Learn more about the prizes…

Who is running the contest?

This contest is part of an educational outreach program that asks kids aged 5 to 14: ‘What do penguins and coral reefs have in common?‘, developed by Marji Puotinen of the Australian Institute of Marine Science and Dirk Slawinski of CSIRO.  Marji was inspired by her participation in Homeward Bound – an international leadership program for women in science.  She heads to Antarctica with 80 other women in the program in January 2019.

For more information, you can: