Announcing our 14th Annual Science Without Borders® Challenge Art Contest! This year’s theme is Microscopic Marine Life

October 22, 2025

Written by Amy Heemsoth

This Year’s Theme: Microscopic Marine Life

The 2026 Science Without Borders® Challenge is now open, inviting young artists from around the world to dive into the fascinating world of the unseen. This year’s theme, “Microscopic Marine Life,” celebrates the tiny ocean organisms that have a massive positive impact on the health of our ocean and planet.

What is the Science Without Borders® Challenge?

The Science Without Borders® Challenge is an international art competition designed to engage students and promote ocean conservation. Open to young artists between the ages of 11 and 19, the challenge encourages participants to create artwork highlighting important themes related to marine science and conservation. Each year, the competition focuses on a specific theme, such as threats to coral reefs, overfishing, or endangered species, to raise awareness about the importance of protecting the world’s ocean. The challenge aims to inspire creativity and foster a deeper understanding of marine environments while providing students with an opportunity to have their work recognized globally. Winners receive scholarships, and their artwork is showcased to help spread the message of ocean conservation.

What Should Your Artwork Include?

For this year’s theme, participants are asked to depict microscopic marine life in a way that reveals its importance to ocean ecosystems and human life. This might include microscopic plankton, bacteria, diatoms, foraminifera, or other tiny marine organisms, any of the ocean’s smallest life forms that have a big ecological role.

Your artwork should bring these tiny creatures to life. Where do they live? What do they do? How do they affect the ocean or planet? Use your creativity to show viewers why these microscopic organisms matter and how they help keep our ocean and planet healthy.

We encourage participants to explore this topic further by learning about the theme.

Why Participate?

By participating in the Science Without Borders® Challenge, you can be part of a global movement advocating for ocean conservation. Your artwork can help others appreciate the beauty, complexity, and importance of microscopic marine life and why it deserves protection. Additionally, winners will receive scholarships of up to $500, and their artwork will be showcased internationally, drawing attention to the importance of marine conservation.

How to Enter

To enter the 2026 Science Without Borders® Challenge, follow the Contest Rules, review the Tips for Success, and upload your artwork to our online Submission Form. The Challenge is open to all students aged 11-19 years old who are enrolled in primary or secondary school (or the home-school equivalent). The contest is free to enter, and students can win up to $500 for artwork that best reflects this year’s theme. Entries must be received by Monday, March 2, 2026, to be eligible to win.

Each participant is required to have a teacher sponsor, who will help guide them through the submission process and ensure that all entry requirements are met. When submitting their entry, students must provide their sponsor’s contact information, including name, phone number, and email address.

Help us get the word out about this competition by telling any young artists and teachers you know and encouraging them to apply. Sign up for our newsletter below and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for contest announcements.

Get started today and help reveal the unseen wonders of our ocean!

From Dialogue to Action: Ocean Foundations Gather in Stockholm

What can philanthropy accomplish when foundations working across ocean science, conservation, and sustainable development come together around a shared purpose?

That question was at the heart of the 6th UN Ocean Decade Foundations Dialogue, held September 7–9 in Stockholm, Sweden. The Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation joined philanthropic organizations from around the world for three days of discussion, collaboration, and planning focused on accelerating progress during the second half of the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development.

Facilitated by UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC), the UN Ocean Decade Foundations Dialogue is a growing network of more than 30 philanthropic organizations committed to advancing ocean science, collaboration, and action. Since its creation within the framework of the Ocean Decade, the Dialogue has provided foundations with a space to exchange ideas, develop partnerships, and explore how philanthropy can help advance a healthy and resilient ocean.

Hosted by the Voice of the Ocean Foundation (VOTO), this year’s gathering began with From Depth to Action, an Opening Forum that brought nearly 100 leaders from the Swedish and international ocean community together at…

Meet IFAN: Helping Bring Navigate with Care to the Next Generation

If you’ve ever seen a lighthouse flashing from the shore or a brightly colored buoy bobbing in the water, you’ve seen Aids to Navigation at work.

Aids to Navigation, often called AtoNs, help mariners navigate safely. They can mark channels, warn of hazards, help vessels determine their position, and provide other information people need to make safe decisions on the water. Around the world, these systems help guide everything from small recreational boats to large commercial or container ships.

But safe navigation isn’t only about protecting vessels and the people aboard them. The choices mariners make can also affect the animals and ecosystems beneath and around them.

That connection between maritime safety and ocean conservation is at the heart of this year’s Science Without Borders® Challenge—and of our partnership with this year’s theme sponsor, the International Foundation for Aids to Navigation (IFAN).