GLEN JEAN, WV (LOOTPRESS) – The annual Youth Arts in the Park Appalachian Spring Wildflower Art Contest will be accepting entries for 2023 beginning on Thursday, December 1, 2022.
The New River Gorge National Park & Preserve website states that the Youth Arts in the Parks is a student competition that celebrates ecology through art. Through this program and the April art exhibit at Tamarack and online, students have the opportunity as community leaders to raise awareness of Appalachia’s natural diversity and parks. Their works inspire community connections to local ecology and outdoor stewardship, participants may also have the opportunity to explore the business of art and its role in economic development.
The Youth Arts in the Parks program is part of Spring Nature Fling, an event that celebrates Southern West Virginia’s diverse ecology. New River Gorge National Park and Preserve, Tamarack, and several West Virginia state park partner to host this event in April and May. This year’s festivities will feature guided hikes, talks, and arts programs about nature outdoors and online.
The entry window for the contest runs from December 1, 2022, to February 8, 2023.
This contest is open to all K-12 students in Fayette, Nicholas, Raleigh, and Summers counties. Finalists will receive a certificate and their art displayed in a spring exhibit at Tamarack in Beckley as well as online.
For official 2023 contest rules and the online entry platform, please click here.