As part of the ‘Our Planet, Your Biosphere’ autumn event series for 2020, primary school students from around Kerry were invited to take part in a calendar art competition.
The primary school calendar competition was launched on November 5th with a closing date for submission on the 20th of November.
An email was sent to all schools on November 4th with details of the competition and a printable pdf to be shared among teachers detailing the competition rules (a copy of this email is included in Appendix 3). A presentation introducing the UNESCO Kerry Biosphere Reserve was developed and recorded and made available via the Kerry Biosphere YouTube channel this can be viewed here:
38 classes submitted entries to the competition from 16 different schools with a total of 288 individual entries.
A total of 14 artworks will be selected by the judging panel, made up of Kate Kennelly, arts officer in Kerry County Council, Sean O’ Laoghaire, artist and storyteller with a strong focus on heritage and mythology and Valerie O’ Sullivan, photographer and volunteer on Killarney Mountain Meitheal volunteer group.
Each of the students whose artwork is included in the calendar will receive a copy of the calendar and an award certificate noting their achievement. Each Students class will receive an education pack consisting of a copy of the calendar, three books (The Great Big Book of Irish Wildlife through the Seasons by Juanita Browne, Diary of a Young Naturalist by Dara McNulty and 101 things for kids to do outside by Dawn Isaac) and a UNESCO Kerry Biosphere Reserve worksheet for each person in the class. Each class that participated in the competition will receive a copy of the calendar and a thank you note to mark their contribution to the competition.
Here are the selected artworks that make up the 2021 ‘My Kerry Biosphere Calendar’
