GROUPS JOIN TO PROMOTE FISH ART CONTEST
Youth recruitment theme of contest

BROOKLYN CENTER, Minn. — Rapala, the world’s largest producer of fishing tackle and lures, is joining Wildlife Forever to promote fishing and aquatic conservation to the youth of America. Rapala is the newest sponsor of the Wildlife Forever State-Fish Art Contest.

The Wildlife Forever State-Fish Art Contest uses art to introduce students to angling and aquatic conservation. To enter the contest, young artists and angling enthusiasts create an illustration of their respective state-fish and a written composition on its behavior, habitat, and efforts to conserve it. The fish Kansas entrants use is the channel catfish.

Entries are categorized, judged, and awarded in three grade levels: 4-6, 7-9, and 10-12. Educators nationwide use the full-color Fish On! Lesson Plan, an interdisciplinary educational text specific to aquatic natural resources. The conservation education materials includes extensive background information, a species identification section profiling each state fish, a glossary, and student worksheets. The lesson plan can be downloaded at no cost from the Wildlife Forever website, www.statefishart.com.

State winners of the contest will be recognized at the 7th Annual State-Fish Art Expo at Mall of America in Minneapolis, Minn., on July 2. An art display will feature all the outstanding artwork from across the country, and an awards ceremony will recognize the talented young artists before a large mall crowd. The event at Mall of America is free and open to the public.

Artists and their families attending the Expo will receive free entry to the Metrodome to watch the Minnesota Twins face the Tampa Bay Devil Rays on July 3. The artists and their artwork will be recognized in a special pre-game ceremony on the playing field.

Sponsors for the Wildlife Forever State-Fish Art Contest include Rapala, the Mall of America, the Minnesota Twins, the North American Fishing Club, and Cheap Joe’s Art Stuff.

For more information on the Wildlife Forever State-Fish Art Contest, visit www.statefishart.com, phone Brett Richardson at (763) 253-0222 or email brichardson@wildlifeforever.org. Digital copies of artwork are available upon request.