Cape Cod National Seashore to Host Student Marine Art Exhibit in April

Moon Jellies, by Melissa Velie, Nauset Regional High School

NOAA, Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary

News Release Date: March 31, 2016

Contact: Dani Crawford, 508-255-3421 x 0305

A display of winners from the 2015 Marine Art Contest sponsored by Massachusetts Marine Educators will be exhibited at Cape Cod National Seashore's Salt Pond Visitor Center for the month of April. The artwork, created by students from schools across Massachusetts, captures some of the diversity of species found in nearby Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary (SBNMS). The show includes winners and honorable mention recipients from all five contest categories –high school, middle school, elementary school, scientific illustration (all grades), and computer graphics (all grades). Several students from the Cape and Islands are represented in the exhibit, including Provincetown Elementary, Lighthouse Charter School, Falmouth High School, and Nauset Regional High School.

The 2016 Marine Art contest is now underway with a deadline of April 29, 2016.Rules for the contest can be found at the MME website at www.ma-marine-ed.org or the Stellwagen Bank sanctuary website, http://stellwagen.noaa.gov. Winning artwork from the past few years can also be viewed at the sanctuary website.

The annual Marine Art contest is a program of the Massachusetts Marine Educators (MME), a nonprofit grass-roots organization of teachers, informal educators, students, educational institutions, and others dedicated to the goals of developing a marine literate society and promoting awareness of the ocean world by integrating marine studies into existing curricula. The contest theme is "Amazing Ocean Creatures of Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary."

"The contest is an exciting way of encouraging interdisciplinary education by integrating marine science with art," said Anne Smrcina, contest director." Through this creative effort, students learn more about some of the local marine life found in their own ocean backyard."Co-sponsors for the annual art contest include Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, New England Aquarium, Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies, and Whale and Dolphin Conservation.The traveling art exhibit is sponsored by the sanctuary and MME.

For more information on the art contest, contact Anne Smrcina, Education Coordinator at Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, email: e-mail us or call: 781 545-8026 x 204.