The Texas State-Fish Art Contest, headquartered at the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center, reminds Texas teachers and students that the deadline for entries in the 2014 State-Fish Art Contest is March 31, 2014.

The contest is open to any student in public, private or home schools in grades K-12. Students must draw or paint any recognized state fish and write an essay about it. Complete contest details and entry forms can be found atwww.tpwd.texas.gov/fishart.

New to the 2014 Texas State-Fish Art Contest will be prizes for the top 10 winners in each of the four grade categories courtesy of FishFlops®. Each of the top 40 Texas winners will receive official FishFlops® merchandise. FishFlops® were created by Galveston teenager Madison Nicole Robinson and are available at Nordstrom.

“We recognize the spirit of the Texas State-Fish Art Contest is to inspire young talented individuals to explore the limits of their creativity,” said Madison Nicole, creator of FishFlops®. “We hope our brand will inspire the winners to take their artistic skills to the next level.”

The Toyota Texas Bass Classic provides funds for prizes for first-, second- and third-place Texas winners in each of the four grade-level divisions. First place in grades 10—12 wins $1,000; second place $750; third place $500. Prizes in the K—3, 4—6 and 7—9 grade levels are $100 for first; $75 for second; $50 for third. Student art from the Texas contest is featured on TTBC tickets. The next TTBC will take place on Lake Fork in May 2014.

Additional support for the Texas contest is provided by the William E. Armentrout Foundation and Friends of the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center.

The Texas State-Fish Art Contest is part of Wildlife Forever’s State-Fish Art Contest. The TTBC also provides a travel allowance for Texas first-place winners to attend the national awards ceremony, which will be held August 15 and 16, 2014, in Columbia, South Carolina.

Wildlife Forever chooses one outstanding piece of artwork each year for the Art of Conservation Award, and a commemorative stamp featuring the artwork is produced for sale. Proceeds from sales of the stamp are used to fund conservation projects.

Educators who wish to have their students enter the contest can download the free “State-Fish Art Contest Lesson Plan” atwww.statefishart.com. The interdisciplinary curriculum includes lessons and activities, a species identification section profiling each state fish, a glossary and student worksheets.