Blue Planet Awareness 2027: Student‑Made Entry Checklist

The 2027 Blue Planet Awareness Contest is open to students ages 11 through 18 worldwide, including students in the United States and Canada. It is a free creative contest with seven categories, but the work must remain student‑made. Official contest overview

The deadline is June 7, 2027, at 11:59 PM Eastern Time. The overview specifies EDT, and the submission platform closes automatically at the deadline. Treat that as a hard closing time, not the start of a final upload session. Official Rules and Eligibility

Confirm age, school status and the adult contact

Entrants must be 11 to 18 and enrolled in middle school, high school or the homeschool equivalent while the contest is open. Students who have started college or university are not eligible, although a high school student taking college classes through dual enrollment may enter. The Junior Division is for ages 11 to 14 and the Senior Division is for ages 15 to 18, based on age at entry. Official Rules and Eligibility, Official FAQ

Students may enter individually or as a group of any size. A group needs one leader as its contact, every member must meet the age rules and all member names must be listed. The group enters the age division of its leader. Official Rules and Eligibility

Every entry must include contact information for an adult sponsor, such as a teacher, parent, guardian or mentor. Entrants under 13 need a parent or legal guardian to complete the required COPPA consent form. The FAQ also tells entrants ages 13 through 18 to obtain parent or guardian permission before sharing personal information online. Official FAQ

HAEA preparation check, not an extra contest rule: confirm the student's age division, current school status, group leader and adult sponsor before choosing a category or sharing personal information.

Choose one category before building the submission

The seven categories are Handcrafted Visual Art, Digital Visual Art, Poetry and Spoken Word, Creative Writing, Film, Performing Arts: Music and Dance, and Interactive and Multimedia. Each category has its own file, length, media or process requirements. Read the exact category section before creating the final format. Official How to Enter guide

A student may have their name on only one entry in each category, for a maximum of seven entries across the seven categories. More work is not automatically stronger work. One carefully checked category is a reasonable first goal.

All submissions require a written reflection of 100 to 300 words. Works cited are required when the entry uses ideas, facts, quotations or existing media that are not the student's own. Entries must be in English or include an English translation; videos in another language need English subtitles. Submission is online only. Official How to Enter guide

Teachers may submit multiple class entries through one account, but each individual student needs a separate entry unless students are participating as a group. Registration alone is not a completed submission. Official How to Enter guide

Keep the creative work AI‑free

Bow Seat says AI‑generated work is not permitted. Its rules name tools such as ChatGPT and DALL‑E, treat the use of AI generators as plagiarism and say an AI‑generated submission will be disqualified and the adult sponsor notified. The FAQ also says entrants must not use artificial intelligence software in work submitted as their own. Official Rules and Eligibility, Official FAQ

That restriction applies across media, not only to digital art. The category guidance repeats it for visual art, creative writing, film, interactive media and poetry. The safest operating rule is simple: do not use a generative AI system to create entry text, images, audio, video, code or reflection prose. If a student has already used an AI tool and is unsure whether the work remains eligible, ask the organizer before submission rather than guessing.

The organizer separately welcomes translating tools for the required reflection, particularly when English is not the student's first language. That is a narrow language‑access permission, not permission to generate the reflection's ideas or prose. Start with student‑authored content, then use only the translation support the official page allows. Official How to Enter guide

HAEA editorial guidance: this article maps published requirements. It does not provide a contest concept, environmental claim, creative passage, artwork prompt or reflection text for a student to submit.

The official pages require an adult sponsor but do not publish a detailed boundary for adult editing or coaching. Keep the student as the creator and author, document what support the adult provides and contact Bow Seat if a planned form of help is unclear.

Build an evidence trail without borrowing a voice

The 2027 theme is Nature of Truth: Environmentalism in an Age of Disinformation. A submission should respond to the official prompt in the student's own medium and voice. The organizer offers research and creative resources, but inspiration does not remove the duty to credit another person's facts, quotations, ideas or media. Official contest overview

Use a simple research log with four columns: source, claim used, location in the work and citation added. For digital visual art, preserve the required progress screenshot while the work is being made. For every category, keep source notes beside the project instead of reconstructing them after the creative work is finished. Official How to Enter guide

The reflection is separate from the creative piece. The official entry guide requires answers to five published questions about the student's medium, idea development, inspiration, learning and message. Read those exact prompts before writing. As a private planning step, a student can first note what they learned, why they chose the medium and what they want the audience to notice or do. Those three notes do not replace the five required answers, and they are not text to copy from this guide. Official How to Enter guide

Work backward from the closing time

The contest remains open for months, which makes it easy to delay the compliance checks. Use an internal deadline several days before June 7 so the final window is reserved for upload problems, sponsor details and consent forms.

A hypothetical plan with two 40-minute sessions each week for five weeks gives 2 * 40 * 5 = 400 minutes of scheduled work. That is six hours and forty minutes of shared time. These are invented planning inputs, not a contest requirement and not an estimate of what a strong entry needs.

Suggested sequence:

1. Eligibility check: confirm age, enrollment, division, group and adult sponsor.
2. Category check: read the exact category requirements and list the required files.
3. Research check: save original sources and record every borrowed fact, quotation, idea or media element.
4. Creation check: keep the work student‑made and preserve process evidence required by the category.
5. Submission check: finish the reflection, works cited, translations or subtitles, consent and online upload before the internal deadline.

For group work, give each member a named responsibility but keep a shared originality and citation check. The official rules divide award money evenly among group members, so the team should also confirm the member list before submitting. Official Rules and Eligibility

Decide whether this format fits the student

This contest fits a student who wants to research an environmental issue and communicate through art, writing, performance, film or interactive media. It may not fit a student who wants an AI‑assisted production workflow or who cannot preserve clear source and process records.

Bow Seat reserves the right to use submitted work for marketing and promotional purposes. Winners may also need to verify eligibility and complete release documents during the award process. Read those terms with the adult sponsor before submission. Official Rules and Eligibility

Your next step: open the Rules, How to Enter guide and exact category section with the adult sponsor. Confirm the eligibility and originality checks, then let the student decide whether this is the right creative format. Open the official contest overview

Official sources were checked October 9, 2026. Requirements can change; use the current organizer pages before submitting.