– Lake Havasu

Two other Texas students also placed in the national competition.

Third place in the grades 4-6 category went to Stanislav Nedzelskyi
of Keller, Texas, a home-schooled sixth grader. His acrylic drawing of
two Guadalupe bass is titled “The Underwater Meeting.”

Nikita Samarin of Victoria placed third in the grades 7-9 category
with “Down in the Blue,” a black-and-white pencil drawing of a catfish.
Samarin attends Profit Magnet High School in Victoria. His art teacher
is Melanie Burns.

Bowen is a 2007 graduate of Rice High School in Altair, where his art instructor was Debbie Christ.

“I read about the contest in the Houston Chronicle,” Bowen
said. “I’d never done a wildlife picture before, so I researched the
fish and put a lot of information together. I had seen pictures of fish
under water, and I wanted to do something different, so my drawing has
the fish jumping into the water.”

Bowen will enter the University of Texas at Austin this fall, where he will major in fine arts.

The Texas division of the national contest is headquartered at the
Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center (TFFC) in Athens. Initial judging
took place at TFFC, and winning entries were sent to Wildlife Forever
headquarters in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, for judging at the national
level.

“Wildlife Forever is pleased to honor the talented young artists,
educators and parents who make the State-Fish Art Contest a memorable
event,” said Douglas H. Grann, president and CEO of Wildlife Forever.
“Together, we are using art to empower a new generation of
conservationists. By sharing their fish art with family, friends and
the general public, our young people are becoming ambassadors for the
good stewardship of fish and wildlife habitat.”

Educators and students in Texas embraced the State-Fish Art Contest
so enthusiastically that the number of entries from Texas alone, 580,
amounted to one-fourth of the entries for the entire country. “The
large number of entries from Texas meant that many pieces of art of
very high quality did not advance to the next round of judging,” said
Zoe Ann Stinchcomb, education team leader at TFFC and Texas coordinator
of the contest. “Currently we are seeking sponsors for awards for Texas
students so that more can be recognized at the state level, and
ultimately we hope to be able to award scholarships to Texas winners.”

To enter the contest, students create an illustration of an
officially recognized state fish and write a composition about its
behavior, habitat and efforts to conserve it. The Texas state fish is
the Guadalupe bass, but contestants may depict any state fish of their
choice. Entries are due at TFFC March 31 of each year; for contest
details visit the TFFC Web site.

Wildlife Forever is a non-profit multi-species conservation
organization dedicated to conserving America’s wildlife heritage.
Wildlife Forever has funded conservation projects in all 50 states. It
supports habitat restoration and enhancement, land acquisition,
research and management of fish and wildlife populations.

Sponsors for the Wildlife Forever State-Fish Art Contest include
Cheap Joe’s Art Stuff, The Art Institutes International Minnesota, Mall
of America, Minnesota Twins, North American Fishing Club, Rapala, U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and the
U.S. Forest Service Eastern Region.

– Lake Havasu