The Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center (TFFC) recently announced the winners of the Texas division of the 2024 Wildlife Forever’s Fish Art Contest.

This contest is all part of an international conservation education program that encourages kids' and teens' interest in fish, fisheries and fishing. The contest is open to students K through 12 grade. The students are able to submit their original artwork of a fish and also write an essay or poem from grades 4 -12 about the fish in their artwork, its habitat or the efforts that are taken to conserve it.

Tom Lang, the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center director said in a press release,

The Fish Art Contest does a tremendous job of exposing students across Texas to the wonders of fish and fisheries resources through the nexus of art. We always look forward to this time of year when we are once again amazed by the outstanding work and artistic interpretations of these young Texans.

There were 1.504 entries and the judges had to narrow it down to the top 12.

The artwork from the Top 12 will be featured at the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center and in the 2025 Texas Fish Art Calendar.

In the K-3 category, the winners were: First place, Jessica Ding of Austin

Second place, Yueran Lang of Austin; third place, Jane Han of Carrollton.

In the grades 4-6 category, the winners were: First place, Luke Zhang of Katy

Second place, Kayla Tran of Wylie; third place, Yolanda Xiong of Flower Mound.

In the grades 7-9 category, the winners were: First place, Caroline Sullivan of Spring

Second place, Elizabeth Naiser of Boerne; third place, Kai-Lin Hsu of Spring.

In the grades 10-12 category, the winners were: First place, Mia Macias of Pasadena

Second place, Samara Estrada of Houston; third place, Dipper Deen of Fort Worth.

The first-place winners in each age group will advance to the national level and compete against first-place winners in their age groups from other states.

There are scholarships that will be awarded for the first, second and third-place Texas winners.

For Grades 10 through 12 Division The Scholarships Are:

$1,000 for first place

$750 for second place

$500 for third place.

Grades 4 - 6 &  7 - 9 Grade Levels The Scholarships Are:

$200 for first place

$150 for second place

$100 for third place

 K through 3 Grade Division Awards Are

$100 for first place

$75 for second second

$50 for third place

Scholarships are supplemented by the William E. Armentrout Foundation and Friends of the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center.

The TFFC will celebrate the state finalists, their teachers and families on Free Fishing Day. Due to facility renovations, this year the celebration will be held at the Tyler Nature Center.

Honorable mentions in grades K-3 were awarded to: Nora Cheng of Austin; Katherine Du of Austin; Yehu Lee of Denton; Isabella Wang of Southlake; Shiyu Yuan of Austin; and Olivia Zhang of Austin.

Honorable mentions in grades 4-6 were awarded to: Shachi Basak of Irving; Jennifer Ding of Austin; Max Li of Coppell; Melinda Liu of Houston; Ethan Luo of Coppell; Violet Yu of San Antonio; Ivan Zaklyazminskiy of Frisco; and Devin Zheng of Buda.

Honorable mentions in grades 7-9 were awarded to: Kylie Duarte of Pasadena; Seha Jeong of Lewisville; Yinyun Ji of Houston; Moises Sandovall III of Amarillo; Avani Vankireddy of Copper Canyon; Emma Wu of Southlake; and Jiayu Jenny Wu of Sugar Land.

Honorable mentions for grades 10-12 were awarded to: Ethan Accardo of Houston; Jack Cimo of Fort Worth; Kate Lee of Euless; Kimberly Muro of Arlington; Alyssa Prins of Colleyville; Shaylen Thompson of Pasadena; and Kinereth Meraz Zelaya of Pasadena.

Learn more at www.wildlifeforever.org.

The Fish Art Contest is a project of Wildlife Forever. Located in White Bear Lake, Minnesota, Wildlife Forever is a nonprofit multispecies conservation organization dedicated to conserving America’s wildlife heritage. Working at the grassroots level, Wildlife Forever has funded conservation projects in all 50 states, committing millions of dollars to “on-the-ground” efforts. Wildlife Forever supports habitat restoration and enhancement, land acquisition, research and management of fish and wildlife populations.

Get our free mobile app