Youths encouraged to enter state fish art contest

Flathead Wildlife, Inc., the Hockaday Museum of Art, Glacier Country Fly Fishers and the Flathead Valley Chapter of Trout Unlimited are sponsoring a regional competition for the national State-Fish Art Contest. The contest is open to all students grades kindergarten through 12. Cutthroat trout were chosen as the Montana state fish in 1977 in a poll of over 200,000 Montanans. Cutthroats are a symbol of clean, cold water and healthy aquatic habitat, part of Montana’s natural heritage.

All entries must meet four criteria: all artwork must be on a 9-by-12 inch horizontal format with no lettering or initials on the face of the artwork, and the artwork must be accompanied by an official entry form and a one-page composition on the state fish with the student’s name and address on it. Entries that don’t meet those criteria will be disqualified from the national contest. Students can draw any state fish for the national contest but only cutthroat trout will be judged in the local competition.

Official entry forms, contest rules, and cutthroat trout information are available on the website https://www.wildlifeforever.org/home/state-fish-art/. An educator’s corner is also available on the website for teachers that want to incorporate this project into the classroom.

All entries must be turned in Hockaday Museum of Art by 5 p.m., Tuesday, March 17. All the entries will be displayed at the Gateway West Mall in Kalispell for one week and judged by a team of local fish experts. All entries will then be forwarded to the national contest sponsored by Wildlife Forever. Entries will be grouped by classes K-3, 4-6, 7-9, and 10-12. Older students are particularly encouraged to enter. The top three artists in each category locally will receive ribbons and gift certificates for $50, $40, and $30. National winning artwork can be viewed on The State-Fish Art website. For more information, call Jim Vashro, (406) 270-9914.