ANNOUNCING 2024 SCIENCE WITHOUT BORDERS® CHALLENGE SEMI-FINALISTS

ANNOUNCING 2024 SCIENCE WITHOUT BORDERS® CHALLENGE SEMI-FINALISTS – AGES 15-19

March 28, 2024

Written by Amy Heemsoth

We recently unveiled the semi-finalists of the 2024 Science Without Borders® Challenge for students participating in the 11-14 year-old category. Today, we are thrilled to announce the semi-finalists in the 15-19 year-old category.

This year’s international art contest theme was “Hidden Wonders of the Deep.” Participants were tasked with creating artwork depicting mysterious and unique deep-sea creatures or ecosystems, highlighting the beauty and diversity that often goes unseen. The students’ submissions were exceptional and will help to create awareness about these hidden wonders of the deep.

Judging over 800 entries in this category was an arduous task for our panel of judges. After much deliberation, they selected 38 semi-finalists who originate from 12 countries. The students illustrated a diverse range of deep-sea creatures, including hydrothermal vent giant tube worms, basket sea stars, siphonophores, goblin sharks, bioluminescent squid, and oarfish. Like with the younger semi-finalists group, students used a variety of styles, techniques, and media to portray the theme.

Without further ado, we invite you to meet our 15-19 year old semi-finalists:

2024 Science Without Borders Challenge Semi-Finalists: 15-19 years old

“The Beauty of Deep-Sea Survival” by Emma Bird, Age 15, United States of America

After the Storm: Standing with Our J.A.M.I.N. Family in Jamaica

There are moments in this work that feel heartbreakingly familiar.

Two weeks after we completed our Jamaica Awareness of Mangroves in Nature (J.A.M.I.N.) programming, Hurricane Melissa made landfall. A powerful Category 5 hurricane, Melissa is now tied with Hurricane Allen in 1980 for the strongest winds ever recorded in an Atlantic storm. Like Hurricane Dorian, which devastated The Bahamas in 2019, Melissa will be remembered as one of the strongest hurricanes on record in the region.

For 11 years, the University of the West Indies Discovery Bay Marine Laboratory and William Knibb Memorial High School have been more than program partners. They have welcomed us into their classrooms and labs, shared meals and laughter, and committed themselves to educating their students about mangroves and coastal resilience. These colleagues and students are not distant collaborators. They are family.

And they were hit hard…

B.A.M. Turns 10: A Year of Milestones, Resilience, and Growth

The 2025–2026 academic year was one of those defining years for our Bahamas Awareness of Mangroves (B.A.M.) and Jamaica Awareness of Mangroves in Nature (J.A.M.I.N.) programs. It was a year marked by celebration, challenge, growth, and powerful full-circle moments, and a reminder of why mangrove education matters.

In The Bahamas, B.A.M. reached a major milestone: ten years of partnership and environmental education in Abaco. Since 2015, in collaboration with Friends of the Environment, we have worked alongside Patrick J. Bethel High School and Forest Heights Academy to bring hands-on mangrove science into classrooms and into the field. This year, we were proud to expand the program to S.C. Bootle High School, increasing access for students who live…

2024 Science Without Borders Challenge Semi-Finalists: 15-19 years old

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