April 2023 Winners

For this project, I used acrylic paint and water to paint a recently hatched butterfly and its chrysalis. The butterfly has a rainbow pattern to represent the rainbow LGBTQ flag. The chrysalis represents the proverbial and literal closets that so many LGBTQ people are forced to hide in. Butterflies represent hope, so this project represents my hope that LGBTQ people will be able to come out of the closet and be accepted in the future.

This digital art piece is meant to represent the racism I experienced as a child at school, especially during lunch, when I would bring my mom’s homemade food to school. I loved my culture, and I loved the food my mom would make me. But the other kids weren’t familiar with my culture, and they would make insensitive remarks about my food that would make me feel embarrassed to have brought it. Once, someone told me the chả lụa I brought smelled like stinky cheese. I stopped bringing the delicious meals my mom would make, all because the other kids would make these remarks. I don’t think it was the kids’ fault for being that way. They were just never taught that there were other people out there, with different cultures, foods, and traditions, and I want to raise awareness around how important it is that parents properly teach their children these things. If we want to stop racism, we should start with educating our kids better.

This is my version of Michelle Yeoh winning an Oscar at this year’s award ceremony. Her message of hope was inspiring. I added in some celebratory aspects, and animated the image a bit, but wanted to express absolute joy and excitement through features in my art. Out of the 95 years the Oscar award show has been running, Michelle Yeoh is the first Asian woman to win the lead actress role–which has only been this year. During her acceptance speech, Michelle Yeoh was vocal and proud of being Asian, spreading more positivity about representation for people that “look like” her, inspiring others to work hard and not give up on dreams.

My art piece is about mental health awareness. Some who struggle with mental health issues may feel like they are trapped, but there is hope. The thick fog that you may feel lost in can be overcome, as you are your own light.

This piece is a celebration of Earth and our relationship with it. Our relationship to the Earth is integral to how we can hope for better and even do better– to recognize that we are connected. There is no us without the Earth and there could potentially be no Earth without us in the future. I think we tend to lose sight of this connection as we grow older. We spend less time outside and thus less time nurturing that connection. If we can remind ourselves of the connection we saw when we were younger, we can re-learn how to care for our Earth. When was the last time you braided the Earth’s hair?

Content warning: About violence and contains content that might be activating. “I wanted to discuss both violence and concerns related to mental health. Violence in the workplace, in schools, and even online has been a common concern over the years, and it still occurs every day. I made this piece because I wish those who are suffering to keep looking for help and for more mental health services to be readily available. Because I am aware that there are still countless victims out there who have not yet dared to confront abuse and seek assistance because they are too afraid and suffer from severe anxiety and sadness. As a result, the victim experiences psychological issues, and many victims—particularly young people with promising futures—decide to take their life because they don’t know how to get help. I thus painted a girl with bumps and wounds in my artwork. This depicts a girl who was subjected to both physical and psychological abuse, but who instead of taking her own life, chose to seek help from others.”

The Earth is slowly getting ruined and I want to share to try and raise awareness. We can all do our part.

In this submission, I wrote an Ode to Earth, hoping to let my audience know just how sorry I am for the mistakes of humanity done to earth. Through this poem, I am apologizing for the many mistakes I made so carelessly that led to the downfall of our planet and how I’d like to fix it. I learned that love is all it takes to set things right and I’d like to give myself another shot at helping our environment.

To the viewers of my artwork, I’d like for everyone to take a first glance, and see a coral reef. Then, I want the viewers to look closer, and see that there’s cardboard and paper and plastic integrated into the painting. This piece was designed to draw attention to the fact that garbage does not belong in the oceans, and even if you don’t see it at first, it is there. My goal is for viewers to enjoy my piece as an aesthetic, but to also gain a new awareness of the sheer amount of trash in our oceans. We must hold ourselves and everyone around us accountable for ocean pollution, because regardless of our age, we are the only ones with the power to stop it.

The future is in our hands when the earth has become a disaster because no one cared. A survivor sends a message back to 2023 with the hope that the person receiving it could set in motion a plan to change the future.

I made my poster to share how we can help monarch butterflies and why helping them is important. They are a part of the planet and environment, so they should also be helped through Earth day. My poster included giving away seeds for people at my school to plant to support the butterflies. I made the poster to show how everyone can help the monarchs!

After reflecting upon actions that can be made by young people to better the environment, I thought that reusable bags would be a unique concept to highlight. In this day and age, there is so much plastic everywhere and for the most part, plastic bags are an example of this. I feel that instead of getting plastic bags from your grocery store every single time you go, instead, we should all use reusable bags to help reduce plastic waste. I wanted to emphasize this in my painting by showing a reusable bag being used rather than a plastic bag. This change is a small leap that will create a big change for the environment.

In this entry, I wanted to discuss how we can best take care of the earth and how our planet is our biggest responsibility. I chose this category because I’m concerned about the welfare of not only the people and animals on Earth, but the planet herself. I feel we’ve hurt her too much and it might be too late to clean up our acts if we don’t start soon.

This entry is based on many solutions available for people who want to take care of the planet. Every time we follow one of these, we have the ability to change our planet. Even though it’s not ALL 8 billion people, one person caring for the planet is better than none.

We did a game show TikTok about picking up trash. We learned that every piece of trash always matters.

This is a 60 second video about ways to save water easily.

We chose this category because we care about the environment and have witnessed the effects a dirty environment can have on people, animals, and all other ecosystems. We have also wanted to learn more about changes we can make without completely altering our lives or spending money we don’t have.

I chose this category because I wanted to share to people that earth is our only home and that we really need to help our planet and its environment if we want to continue on as a species.