Art contest focuses on endangered species

Forty schoolchildren around the country recently learned that their artwork earned semifinalist status in the annual Endangered Species Day Art Contest. Ten students in four age categories -- grades K-2, 3-6, 7-9 and 10-12 -- will have their art judged on May 4 by a panel of scientists, artists, conservationists, photographers and actors including Jeff Corwin, host of Animal Planet’s "Jeff Corwin Experience," and Jack Hanna, host of "Jack Hanna’s Into the Wild."

In the K-2 group, five of the 10 children chose birds as their subjects (Piping Plover, Spotted Owl, Bald Eagle, Ivory-billed Woodpecker and Sandhill Crane) while one artist in the 3-6 category chose Brown Pelican.

Among the students in the 7-9 group, four seminalists chose endangered birds -- Swallow-tailed Kite, Red-cockaded Woodpecker, Brown Pelican, California Condor -- and the 10-12 category included three pieces about birds: Northern Spotted Owl (two) and Kirtland's Warbler.

To see all of the artwork, visit Endangered Species Coalition. Details about the contest appear here, and information about Endangered Species Day -- May 21 -- is available here.