Interested in participating in the ARTEFFECT annual student art competition? Follow the step-by-step guide. Students in grades 6-12 worldwide are invited to participate. Bring the competition into your classroom!
Artworks in multiple 2D & 3D mediums are accepted. There are new 2025 Spotlight Prizes for 3D and large format. Follow the Impact Statement Outline for structuring the accompanying essay (500-1000 words).
Mary Anning overcame both poverty and sexism to emerge as a trailblazer in 19th-century science. Born in 1799, Anning grew up along the Jurassic Coast in Lyme Regis, Great Britain where she faced hardship early in life when her father passed away, leaving her family impoverished. At the age of eleven, her brother’s discovery of a mysterious skull sparked her lifelong passion for fossil hunting. Anning supported her family by selling fossils at her shop, Anning’s Fossil Depot, and went on to revolutionize paleontology. She unearthed groundbreaking discoveries, including the first complete ichthyosaur, plesiosaur, and pterosaur skeletons, as well as numerous other marine fossils. Despite her pivotal contributions, Anning was barred from joining the Geological Society of London and did not receive due recognition for her work. Today, her legacy endures, with many of her fossils housed in the Natural History Museum in London.
ARTEFFECT projects submitted to the competition that interpret the life and legacy of Mary Anning are eligible for the Spotlight Prize category. Learn more about Mary Anning’s story below:
