Wildlife Forever Fish Art Contest open for student submissions

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - An intentional student art contest with a local division is open for submissions.

The Wildlife Forever Fish Art Contest has different categories for kids in kindergarten to 12th grade to submit their fish artwork. Students are asked to submit a drawing of a specific fish, and those who are in 4th grade and older are also asked to submit an essay.

There is a section that is open just to Alaskans called the Fish Heritage Award. Entrants must focus their project on Alaska’s state fish: the Chinook salmon.

“I think students benefit from this because they get a chance to do a little research,” Bobbie Jo Skibo with the Alaska Region of the U.S. Forest Service said. “I think a lot of our youth in Alaska, like me have no idea that Chinook salmon is our Alaska state fish. So right then and there, you’re learning something. If you research it a little further, you understand about the importance of Chinook salmon and other salmon species to our economy, to our subsistence way of life.”

The 2020 Fish Heritage Award winner was a 10th grade girl from Petersburg, Alaska.