Teachers and children of K through 12 age take notice. The State Fish Art Contest has been holding an annual contest for the past 15 years. The deadline escapes my notice for some reason and I seem to be playing catch up or the deadline is too late. Yes, I'm playing catch up again this year, but there is still time to enter. The artwork must be postmarked on or before March 31.

This contest is open worldwide to all children in grades K-12 in any public, private or home-school, any youth group, after-school program, youth camp, scout troop, art class or just an individual kid that wants to enter.

Any child of K-12 age is eligible as long as a responsible adult reads, agrees to and signs their entry form. But only one entry per child will be accepted.

Today I plan to inform all about the contest and entice a few of those informed and interested to enter. Here is an overview of the contest: The artwork must depict any officially designated state fish or Ontario, Canada designated fish. The fish must be depicted in its natural habitat.

This means the artist could illustrate Washington's state fish, the steelhead, or North Dakota's northern pike or Ohio's walleye, which is also the state fish of South Dakota.

Other rules include: All artwork must be the student's original, hand-done creation and must not infringe upon any copyright laws. This means photographs and computer-generated artwork will not be accepted.

All artwork must be horizontal, measure 9- by 12-inches without a mat, frame or border and not exceed a quarter inch in total thickness. Almost any art medium is allowed, including, but not limited to: oils, scratch-board, pointillism, chalk, pastels, charcoal, colored pencil, acrylics, dry brush, watercolor, crosshatch, lead, collage, linoleum printing, tempera and crayon. Spray chalk and pastel entries to eliminate scuffing and smudging. A loose cover sheet may be laid over the face fro protection during shipping.

The art work should not have lettering, signatures or initials on the front of the design. Any artwork with such identifying characteristics will be disqualified and eliminated from the competition.

The completed entry form should be attached to the back of the artwork using a clear blue stick. Do not staple, paper clip or tape this form as it damages the artwork.

A story about the chosen state-fish is required in essay, story, poem or other creative form of written story telling. It is limited to one side of one page and needs to be in the student's own words relating specifically to the chosen state-fish, its habitat, behavior or efforts to conserve the fish.

The judges are looking for a personal understanding or connection to the chosen state fish, not information just copied or cut and pasted from a research or reference paper. The essay must include the student's name, grade and state on the back. The essay needs to be submitted with the artwork, but do not attach it. The essay will be judged separately.

The entries are grouped and judged in four grade categories: K-3, grades 4-6, grades 7-9 and grades 10-12. Grades K-3 are not required to write an essay.

The contest is sponsored by Wildlife Forever. Their mission is to conserve America's wildlife heritage through conservation education, preservation of habitat and management of fish and wildlife.

The contest is teacher-friendly with a lesson plan titled "Fish On." It is written for educators teaching grades four through twelve, but it can easily be modified to include K-3. You can pick and choose which exercises you want to offer your students. On average it takes 2 to 4 class periods.

So there you have it. This is a chance to study the mighty steelhead of Washington or the state fish of any other state. If this doesn't meet the needs of an entire class, perhaps a specific student would benefit.

The entry form and more information can be downloaded at www.statefishart.org.