The Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation is pleased to announce the finalists of the 2022 Science Without Borders® Challenge, our annual student art competition. This year we asked students to create a piece of art that illustrates one or more actions that governments, non-profits, park managers, and indigenous communities can take to preserve coral reefs using a ridge to reef approach to conservation. We are thrilled with the entries that we received!
We received 510 qualifying pieces of artwork from 49 different countries, so picking the finalists was a difficult decision. Ultimately, finalists were chosen based on how well the artwork exemplified this year’s theme, the quality of the artwork, and the creativity and originality of their artwork.
We hope you will be as impressed with the submissions we received as we were. Without further ado, here are the finalists for Ages 11-14 of the 2022 Science Without Borders® Challenge:
"Clean the Reef!" by Viara Pencheva, Age 12, Bulgaria
ARTIST'S STATEMENT: The reef is a unique underwater structure that is home to hundreds of corals and thousands of different species of fish, mollusks, sea snakes, sea turtles, whales, dolphins, birds and more. Today, a number of factors threaten the survival of coral reef organisms as well as the structural integrity of the reefs themselves. Many coral reefs are plagued by predation, bleaching and the effects of various human activities. Pollution is one of the factors causing coral reef destruction. With my drawing I want to show that if we want to protect the unique coral reefs, we have to stop polluting them. We need to start taking care of them together by cleaning them of plastic bags, drink bottles, fishing nets and other waste that people throw into the ocean. But above all, we need to change our way of thinking and take care of the nature around us.
