Proudly brought to you by Dinosaur University and supported by SASTA and HeapsGood Productions.
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More details on the 2024 competition will be available soon!
Congratulations to the 2023 prize winners! Click here to view the winning entries.
Aim of the competition
The aim of the Mary Anning Art Prize is to have young South Australian artists create an original piece of artwork that tells us something about the prehistoric life of South Australia. It is essential, to be eligible, that the artwork explores an element of South Australia’s rich and remarkable prehistoric past, and that the artist lives in South Australia. To explore and illustrate our own past is to better know who we are as South Australians, and to better understand our unique place in the history of life.
While all visual art-forms are eligible, each entry must be presented in the form of a single photograph of the artwork.
What makes a successful entry?
- Scientific accuracy, creativity, and originality
- The best art isn’t just a picture, or a sculpture. It tells a story!
Are you wondering what the judges are looking for in a successful entry? Check out the video below
Children's University
We're excited to team up with Children's University this year! Get your CU Passport stamped for a 5 hour activity by uploading an image of your artwork through the Children’s University Portal. Or take the image to your CU school coordinator.
To find out more about Children’s University Visit the Children’s University website.
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Opening and Closing Dates: Submissions open - 21 May 2024 |
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Prizes 1st, 2nd and 3rd prizes will be awarded in each year group category |
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| Ediacaran Fauna by Malina Bachmann | Kronosaurus by Lila Goundar | Procoptodon goliah / short faced kangaroo by Emily Richardson |
People’s Choice Award
Alongside the South Australian component of the competition, entries are also welcome from outside of South Australia. Those who live outside South Australia will need to create an entry that explores the prehistoric story of where they live, as per the full terms and conditions.
- The People’s Choice Winner will be determined by the number of Facebook Likes the image of the artwork directly receives on the Dinosaur University Facebook page. We’ll upload the judge’s favourites from each category to a photo album, after the closing date. There will then be two weeks to vote on this.
- Judges’ decisions will be final, as will the People’s Choice. Should there be a tie in the People’s Choice, there will be a run-off vote between the tied entries.
- Should there be a dispute on any matter, the judges and organisers will make a determination, which will be final.
The Story of Mary Anning
Born in 1799, in the town of Lyme Regis in England, Mary Anning discovered the skull of an ichthyosaur with her brother Joseph, when she was just 12. Several months later, Mary found the rest of the skeleton. It was to be the first of many discoveries by Mary, in her local area, known as the Jurassic Coast. Legend has it that the poem “She sells seashells by the seashore” may have been written about her, as in order to make money for the family, Mary sold seashells and fossils.
At the time, women weren’t allowed to belong to the Royal Geological Society, and Mary’s name never appeared in the research done on her discoveries. She did not, however, give up her passion, and with her best friend, her dog Tray at her side, went on to discover plesiosaurs, ammonites, pteranodons, and so much more. Mary was also one of the first people to realise that some interesting looking rocks she’d discovered, were fossilised poop! While Mary Anning was not officially recognised, or allowed to join their organisation, the men of the Royal Geological Society, came to rely on her expertise…
“… by reading and application she has arrived to that degree of knowledge as to be in the habit of writing and talking with professors and other clever men on the subject, and they all acknowledge that she understands more of the science than anyone else in this kingdom”
Lady Harriet Silvester
The Mary Anning Art Prize is named after Mary for several reasons:
- Mary made a significant number of discoveries in her local area.
- Mary first began making those discoveries when she was still a young child.
- Along with making the discoveries, and preparing the fossils for study, Mary made multiple drawings of her discoveries.
- Despite not being accepted into the Royal Geological Society, Mary persisted. She never gave up on her passion, and today we acknowledge here as a significant pioneer in the science of palaeontology.
- Mary wasn’t allowed to go to university to study her passion. Despite this, she became a leading expert through her own hard work and pioneered many fossil site preparation techniques that are still used today.
- There are multiple examples from the Cretaceous Period here in South Australia of the prehistoric sea creatures Mary Anning discovered from the Jurassic Period where she lived in Lyme Regis.
Fossils of South Australia - Some helpful sites
Conditions of Entry
- The aim of the Mary Anning Art Prize is to for young artists to create an original piece of artwork featuring a prehistoric life form from the state in which the entrant currently lives. Entries will not be eligible if the subject of the artwork is not of the local prehistoric area of the entrant.
- Entrants must submit a single image of the artwork by midnight, Adelaide, Australia time, by 10 July 2023.
- It is the responsibility of the entrant to decide the best way in which to present the artwork through that image.
- If the uploaded file is incorrectly named, it will not be considered for judging.
- All entrants must complete the on-line entry form including a sentence about the artwork.
- The artist must fall within their year level category before and including the closing date.
- You cannot submit an artwork previously entered in the Mary Anning Art Prize.
- This is an art prize for visual art, and not performance art. All forms of visual art are acceptable.
- One entry per person, only.
- By submitting this entry you agree that your entry or a copy of your entry can be used and/or displayed by SASTA to promote the Mary Anning Art Prize at events, on SASTA websites and social media, and used in part of full within the SASTA Journal or Newsletter publications.
- The Art Prize organisers reserve the right to amend any or all of these terms and conditions.
| Pliosaur by Cody Emms | Ammonite by Zazie Newall | Procoptodon by Teresa Kenworthy |
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