This international art competition is open to all students, around the world, that are 7-18 years old. Students must be enrolled in primary or secondary school, or homeschooled, and are not eligible if currently enrolled in a college or university.

There will be 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place prizes awarded for each group:

Group 1: Students 7-12 years old

Group 2: Students 13-18 years old

For each contest group:

1st place: $100

2nd place: $50

3rd place: $25

In addition, the prints of chosen finalists’ (about top 30% of the participates) and winning works will be displayed in a gallery in New Brunswick, New Jersey on August 15th, 2021, and compiled for a digital gallery on our UCEEF website. These works may also be sold in limited quantity for fundraising in support of later environmental protective events.

A high quality, well-lit scan, photograph, or digital file of your artwork as well as a written artist’s statement.

When creating your artwork, please think about the following promoting questions:

• Does your artwork reflect that you understand the theme of the contest?
• Does your artist’s statement also show that you understand the contest theme?
• Does your piece show that you have a good understanding of art and that you use these art elements, such as composition, line, shape, value, and color, to effectively portray the theme?
• Is your artwork original, inventive, and shows off your individual style?
• Is your artwork neat? Are there tears, smudges, and/or smear marks?
• Does your artwork invoke emotion for your viewers? Is it striking and memorable?

Before starting with the art work, please read the contest rules for what can and cannot be submitted, and how to write the statement to help the judges better understand your art work.

Contest Rules & Information

1. There is no fee to enter the contest.
2. All entries must be received by August 6, 2021, at 11:59 pm U.S. Eastern Time (ET). All submissions must be received by this deadline or they will be disqualified.
3. Submissions must be made online. Email submissions are not permitted.
4. All students ages 7-18 who are enrolled in primary or secondary school, or home schooled, anywhere in the world may enter the contest. Students age 6 may participate as long as they turn 7 by Friday, August 6, 2021. College and university students are not eligible for this contest.
5. All artwork must be an original work by the contestant and shall not infringe on any copyrights or any other rights of any third parties. Do not copy an idea from a past participants’ work. Do not draw a character from a cartoon or movie. See the grading rubric and prompting questions in the previous page for more ideas of what a successful entry should be like.
6. As one part of the important grading criteria, artist’s statement with explanations of art piece is required and will help the judges to have better idea about the art work. Things you need to mention in the Artist’s Statement:
   • How is nature and the environment important in your life?
   • How does your work represent that relationship between nature and you?
   • How did you creatively and uniquely create your work in respect to the process?
   • What realistic steps can you take to be more environmentally-friendly and sustainable?
7. Do not submit artwork to the Nature and Me contest that you have entered into another art competition.
8. The artwork must be 2D such as a painting, collage, photograph, or digital drawing. Acceptable media includes paint, pencil, marker, crayon, ink, felt, photography, glue, string, oil pastel, etc. Using magazines, newspapers, or other non-original work is not permitted.
9. There are no minimum or maximum size requirements for the artwork.
10. All submissions must be made by an individual artist. Group submissions are not permitted.
11.  Participants may submit only 1 art piece.
12.  Applicants must fill out all required information on the online Submission Form, including a photograph or scan of the original artwork. We will use your digital submission to determine the finalists and winners, so it is important that you create a good digital copy of your artwork to be judged. Full-color scans from printers and scanners often produce the best results, but almost all phones and digital cameras are able to create a quality image for submission.
13.  All participants must provide parent/guardian contact information even if they are 18 years or older. Participants who do not provide accurate information may be disqualified.
14.  Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) Forms are required for all participants who are 7-12 years old. The form must be uploaded at the time of submission.
15.  Do not include nudity or explicit content in artwork you submit to the Nature and Me contest.
16.  The U.S.-China Environmental Education Foundation reserves the right to disqualify artwork deemed as offensive or plagiarized.
17.  Entries that do not comply with all of the contest rules will be disqualified.
18.  All winners and their parents/guardians will be contacted before the Foundation announces the winning entries.
19. All submissions may be used to promote the Nature and Me competition, environmental education, and the work of the U.S.-China Environmental Education Foundation in all media worldwide in perpetuity. Artwork, artist statements, and student information (i.e. name, country, age) may be used in publications and distributed to the media as well as produced prints for non-profit, charity fundraising.
20. The U.S.-China Environmental Education Foundation promises to run this contest fairly and with integrity.

Rights

The applicant agrees that the U.S.-China Environmental Education Foundation will retain the rights to the submitted artwork and the art description, which it may use to promote the Nature and Me annual art competition, environmental conservation, and the work of the U.S.-China Environmental Education Foundation in all media worldwide in perpetuity.

Artwork, art descriptions, and select student information (such as name, country, and age) may be used in publications and distributed to the media.

A panel of artists, educators, art lovers and environmental social workers will judge the UCEEF Nature and Me Challenge. Artwork will be evaluated on originality, quality, creativity and adherence to the theme. The judges will use the Guideline Rubric to evaluate the artwork.

Guideline Rubric

A panel of artists, educators, art lovers and environmental social workers will judge the UCEEF Nature and Me Challenge. Artwork will be evaluated on originality, quality, creativity and adherence to the theme. The judges will use the following Guideline Rubric to evaluate the artwork. Total score is 16, and the judges will consider the 4 dimension including Visual Impact, Interpretation and Creativity, Craftsmanship/Skill and Artist’s Statement. Each dimension has a maximum of 4 points.

Deadline: August 6th, 2021, at 11:59 PM Eastern Standard Time (EST)

• We encourage all the potential contestants to subscribe with your email now here, and we will send you updates and reminders before the submission deadline.
• To submit the art piece, please fill out the online submission form no later than the submission deadline.

The announcement of the winner:

We will announce the winner after the judging panel make the final decision, and the result will be announced within two weeks from the submission deadline.