We want you to write a short story that celebrates the beauty and uniqueness of our threatened plants and animals(3MB, PDF).

You can get as creative as you like, however the story must include facts about one or more of the following:

• The plant or animal's habitat
• The plant or animal's diet
• The threats to the plant or animal
• How you think we can save the plant or animal from extinction.

Entry is open to writers aged 8 to 16 years. All you need to do is:

• Write a creative story that could be read to someone aged 5-6 years old
• Make sure your story is no longer than one A4 page.

Judging of creative writing entries

Each year we receive some inspiring reasons as to why students are inspired to create an artwork of their chosen species, and we want to capture these wonderful written words in the form of creative short stories.

To determine the best competition entries, Council’s library and environment staff have developed creative writing criteria and will be judging the stories against this.

Creative writing criteria:

• 50% for three or more accurate facts about your chosen species
• 20% creativity
• 10% grammar
• 10% structure. Beginning-middle-end.

All you need to do is ensure your entry:

• Is of a threatened plant or animal species(3MB, PDF) that occurs in the Macarthur region and on any sized paper
• Be as creative as possible - you could use pens, pencils, crayons, or even stick things on, like leaves, twigs or cellophane
• Includes your name, age and contact details on the artwork.

If you are entering as a school, please ensure that each student's name, age, school and class is identified on the artwork.

We have created a teachers resource kit(9MB, PDF) to assist with the delivering the competition in classrooms. 

You can promote the competition in your school community with our Threatened Species Art and Writing Competition Poster(828KB, PDF).

To learn more about our threatened plants and animals and what threats they face read our Threatened Species List.(3MB, PDF)

Competition Rules

1. Creative writing and artwork entries must be on an A4 piece of paper. Entries close Monday 5 August 2024.
2. Entries must feature a threatened plant or animal species that occurs in the Macarthur region.
3. Each individual entry must have an entry form attached if submitting a hard copy.
4. If you are entering as a school, please ensure that each student’s name, age, school and class is identified on the artwork or story.
5. Creative writing entries must include real facts about the featured plant or animal.
6. Artwork entries can incorporate any medium, including painting, collage and drawing.
7. Entrants in this competition give permission for their artwork and/ or story to be publicly displayed and reproduced by print and electronic media by the competition organisers for not-for-profit publications, advertising and promotional purposes, and for their name to be published if they are a winner.
8. Entries submitted by school groups/classes will be available for collection from respective local Council offices following the conclusion of the competition.
9. Any uncollected hard copy entries will be donated to local schools and/or libraries.
10. All personal information gathered by the competition organisers will be used solely for the purposes of administering the Threatened Species Art and Writing Competition.
11. The judging panel will include a representative from each Council and their decision will be final.
12. Respective Councillors, competition organisers, the judging panel and their immediate families are not eligible to enter the competition.

Waste and plastic pollution has an enormous impact on the local and global environment.

The Waste to Art category:

• Aims to get students to consider how we might be contributing to the problem, and what we can do to move to a more sustainable future.
• Presents a reminder to practice the ‘5 Rs’ of waste minimisation: Refuse, Reduce, Repair, Reuse, and Recycle.

If your artwork qualifies for the Waste to Art category, remember to tick/check this box when submitting your entry.

For artwork inspiration and information about some of our local threatened species, and threats to their survival, check out our Threatened Species Fact Sheet (3MB, PDF).

Here is a great lesson plan for running a waste to art class activity https://zartart.com.au/zartstatic/page/street-art-collage

Ever imagined that out of junk materials, you could make amazing installations !!!

Have a look at this video and be inspired by the Portuguese artist Bordaloii 11.