Fossil experts in UCC are calling for children in Westmeath and the wider Midlands region to enter the 2023 National Fossil Art Contest with a grand prize of a fossil-hunting trip with real palaeontologists.
The contest is run by the UCC programme Ireland’s Fossil Heritage and is open to children from 4–18 years old, the theme of the contest being ‘Irish fossils ALIVE’. Entries must be submitted as digital photographs by 5pm on Friday, March 31. The winning entries in each age category will be exhibited in UCC’s Glucksman Gallery in June 2023.
“Fossils make science accessible to people from all walks of life and we want to celebrate our curiosity in the natural world in a creative way through art,” programme manager, Professor Maria McNamara, Professor of Palaeontology at UCC, said.
Prizes include fossil-branded t-shirts, fossil kits and behind-the-scenes tours of the UCC fossil labs with the grand prize being an overnight trip to Hook Head, County Wexford, for the overall winner plus a parent or guardian, B&B accommodation and meals included.
Nicole Kerber, mother of last year’s winner, said the fossil fieldtrip was “mind-blowing….making memories to last a lifetime.”
For more information see https://www.ucc.ie/en/fossil-heritage/fossilart/
