Fossil experts in UCC are calling for children to enter the 2023 National Fossil Art Contest, with a grand prize of a fossil-hunting trip with real palaeontologists.

The contest is run by the UCC programme Ireland’s Fossil Heritage and is open to children from 4 – 18 years old. The theme of the contest is “Irish fossils ALIVE”. Entries must be submitted as digital photographs by 5 pm Friday 31^st of March. The winning entries in each age category will be exhibited in UCC’s Glucksman Gallery in June 2023.

“Fossils make science accessible to people from all walks of life,” said program manager Professor Maria McNamara, Professor of Palaeontology at UCC. “We want to celebrate our curiosity in the natural world in a creative way through art.”

Prizes include fossil-branded T-shirts, fossil kits and behind-the-scenes tours of the UCC fossil labs. The grand prize is an overnight trip to Hook Head, Co. Wexford, for the overall winner plus a parent or guardian, with B&B accommodation and meals included. Nicole Kerber, mother of last year’s winner, said the fossil fieldtrip was “mind-blowing….making memories to last a lifetime.”

For more information see https://www.ucc.ie/en/fossil-heritage/fossilart/