Cash prizes for elementary, middle and high school students

The George Montgomery/NRA Youth Wildlife Art Contest is now accepting entries for 2012 and is offering $7,000 in cash prizes.

Open to students in grades 1 through 12 (including home-schooled children), entries must be submitted by November 5, 2012.

Youth Wildlife Art Contest entries are split up into one of four categories based on school grade. Category I includes grades 1 through 3. Category II is for grades 4 through 6. Category III covers grades 7 through 9, and Category IV includes grades 10 through 12.

Learn more about this year's George Montgomery/NRA Youth Wildlife Art Contest ...

Are you an artist or do you know one? The George Montgomery/NRA Youth Wildlife Art Contest is accepting entries and will be giving away $7,000 in cash prizes this fall.

There's still plenty of time left before the November 5, 2012 deadline to create beautiful images of wolves, quail, white-tailed deer or one of a hundred other animals.

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Do you like creating pieces of art or know someone who does? The George Montgomery/NRA Youth Wildlife Art Contest is now accepting entries and will be giving away $7,000 in cash prizes this fall. Now that summer is here there's plenty of time to work on your bighorn sheep, white-tailed deer, or one of a hundred other animals.

The contest is open to students in grades 1 through 12 (including home-schooled children), and entries must be submitted by November 5, 2012.

More

The George Montgomery/NRA Youth Wildlife Art Contest is now accepting entries for 2012 and is offering $7,000 in cash prizes.

Open to students in grades 1 through 12 (including home-schooled children), entries must be submitted by November 5, 2012.

Youth Wildlife Art Contest entries are split up into one of four categories based on school grade. Category I includes grades 1 through 3. Category II is for grades 4 through 6. Category III covers grades 7 through 9, and Category IV includes grades 10 through 12.

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Did you know that NRA InSights, NRA’s publication for Junior shooters and hunters, is available for free in an online digital edition? The February 2012 edition is online and ready to be enjoyed! You don’t have to log in or give a password—just click here and view this issue at any time. This month, kids’ creativity is highlighted with the results of the 24th Annual George Montgomery/NRA Youth Wildlife Art Contest; the secrets to creating beautiful outdoor photos and a cool outdoors-themed career. We’re also kicking off a series of tips for competitive pistol shooters penned by NRA Youth Programs’ coach extraordinaire, Larry Quandahl…and don’t miss a step-by-step instructional video on how to build a fire, courtesy of our 16-year-old field correspondent, Jack Evans.

Above and below are the honorable mention recipients from Category IV of this year's George Montgomery/NRA Youth Wildlife Art Contest. Category IV is the oldest group of entrants in the contest, reserved for students in grades ten through twelve.

To be more specific, the piece above is Winter Gaze by Marianne Lim of Norcross, Georgia. The rest of the work created by our Honorable Mention winners can be viewed in the slideshow below.

Our congratulations goes to:

• Watchful Eyes by Laura Luo, Novi, Michigan
• Goliath and Delaney by Leyla Margolis-Brooks, Minneapolis, Minnesota
  
• Trumpet Morning by Rachel Olson-Baer, Beresford, South Dakota
• Mother and Cub by Brody Thompson, Fredericksburg, Virginia
  
• Winter Gaze by Marianne Lim, Norcross, Georgia
• Wolf Crys by Jo Kim, Coppell, Texas
  
• untitled by Anakata Aschenbrenner, Denver, Colorado
• In the Light by Angelica Burtley, Grants Pass, Oregon
• The Three Stooges by Tucker Besosa, Asheville, North Carolina

Check out our winners from this year's Category I, Category II, Category III and Category IV and the honorable mentions from Category I, Category II and Category III.

Kyle's Story #1 from 2011 - Youth Wildlife Art Contest

The George Montgomery/NRA Youth Wildlife Art Contest requires a considerable amount of time; time for those who enter it and time for those who manage it. Personally, it eats up a good portion of my time during the fall. And on another front, it provides a stark contrast between the long hours hunkered down at my desk overseeing the contest with the busy travel schedule of spring and summer. That's why my number one story from 2011 – and probably my favorite event of the year – is the Youth Wildlife Art Contest.

I started working for the NRA in the fall of 2008. By then, the year's contest was well underway. Thrust into a room stacked high with crates of unopened envelopes, I was tasked with cataloging each and every entry in preparation for judging. The hours were long and the papercuts many, but everything was eventually sorted and looked very impressive when all was laid out for our panel of judges; a collage of North American wildlife.

Thankfully I wasn't asked to judge as narrowing down the artwork to determine a winner appeared to be impossible. Some entries stood out due to their technical superiority, but I would have considered more. After spending so much time cataloging the entries and speaking with parents and students, I understood how much hard work went into each and every piece of art. There is no way I could have been objective.

"That's the girl who asked if she should do watercolor or pencil," I would think to myself when reviewing the art. "There's the boy who wanted to know if armadillo was huntable" or "I snagged my finger on a staple from that student's packaging." A connection had been created with each entry.More

With so many people taking off for the holidays and students being out of school on Winter Break, why not stop by the National Firearms Museum here at NRA Headquarters in Fairfax, Virginia, where the top entries from this year's George Montgomery/NRA Youth Wildlife Art Contest are on display?

The winning artwork is in the museum's Ruger Gallery where the Hollywood Guns rotating exhibit is currently on display. If you are unable to make it during the holidays, the entries will remain on display for the next few weeks before being taken down so they can be returned to their artists.

Above is Cornered by Ethan Robinson of Black Mountain, North Carolina, an honorable mention from Category III of this year's George Montgomery/NRA Youth Wildlife Art Contest. Category III is for entries by students in the seventh through ninth grades.

Twelve students in Category III earned honorable mentions for their work in 2011. You can review a complete slideshow of their work is below. Until then, our congratulations go to:

• The Peering Fox by Kelly Wang, Johns Creek, Georgia
  
• Wolf by Charles Cheng, Johns Creek, Georgia
• The Deer by Jasmine Kim, Germantown, Maryland
  
• Mule Deer by Rachel Ahn, Boyds, Maryland
  
• Preening in the Fall by Jamie Shen, Palo Alto, California
  
• Portrait of Turkey by Ellen Shuan, Palo Alto, California
  
• Raccoon by Lauren Posner, Wellington, Florida
  
• Cornered by Ethan Robinson, Black Mountain, North Carolina
• The Fox by Grace Zhang, Ellicott City, Maryland
  
• The Big Horn Sheep by Daniel Smith, Florence, South Carolina
  
• untitled by Simon Hong, Fullerton, California
  
• Contemplating Perfection by Asherel Kaseorg, Charlotte, North Carolina
  

Check out our winners from this year's Category I, Category II, Category III and Category IV and the honorable mentions from Category I and Category II.