From International Festival of Owls

Here are our winners from our 2026 International Kids' Owl Art Contest! This year we had about 2,978 entries from about 40 countries and 27 U.S. states!!

Thank you all for your participation in our contest! We hope to see you again next year!

This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Southeastern Minnesota Arts Council thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts & cultural heritage fund.

Give me a bit to post all the photos! There's about 2 dozen. Edit: all done!

Ages 15-18, First Place, Elyn Qiu (Age 15) Canada

Ages 15-18, Second Place, Nattapat Chaichanakasikram (Age 17) Thailand

Ages 15-18, Third Place, Yu-Tong Lo (Age 15) Taiwan

Ages 15-18, Honorable Mention, Defne Özűnal (Age 16) Turkey

Ages 15-18, Honorable Mention, Khemika Nacawadjana (Age 16) Thailand

Ages 15-18, Honorable Mention, Wirisa Kaeothiptim (Age 17) Thailand

Ages 10-14, First Place, Law Tsz Huen Chloe (Age 13) Hong Kong

Ages 10-14, Second Place, Aiyana Bansal (Age 12) United Kingdom

Ages 10-14, Third Place Tie, Kaewta Kitinai (Age 13, Thailand)

Ages 10-14, Third Place Tie, Nata Thungseabyoun (Age 14) Thailand

Ages 10-14, Honorable Mention, Luke Zhang (Age 12) USA

Ages 10-14, Honorable Mention, M. M. Dewmini Amasha (Age 14) Sri Lanka

Ages 10-14, Honorable Mention, Phichayathida Petsringam (Age 11) Thailand

Ages 6-9, First Place, Kawalin Artsungnoen (Age Thailand

Ages 6-9, Second Place, Temirali Asylum (Age 8) Kazakhstan

Ages 6-9, Third Place, Peng, Jhih-Heng (Age 7) Taiwan

Ages 6-9, Honorable Mention, Nadeżda Prigożina (Age 9) Latvia

Ages 6-9, Honorable Mention, Chi, Yi-Hsiang (Age 9) Taiwan

Ages 0-5, First Place, Au Tsz San (Age 3) Hong Kong

Ages 0-5, Second Place, Tsang Kit Sing (Age 4) Hong Kong

Ages 0-5, Third Place, Tse Cheuk Hei (Age 4) Hong Kong

Ages 0-5, Honorable Mention, Baoyan Qian (Age 3), China

Ages 0-5, Honorable Mention, Winston Guo (Age 4) USA

That is terrifying :D

Crazy artskills

Lol, poor kid isn't exactly from Snowy Owl territory! We can cut them a little slack. 😄

It did make me Google if Hong Kong gets any snow out of curiosity, and the answer is....sorta.

Hong Kong Observatory:

Hong Kong's climate is sub-tropical, tending towards temperate for nearly half the year. During the winter season, it is not uncommon for temperatures to drop below 10oC in the urban areas, and the lowest temperature ever recorded at the Observatory was 0oC on 18 January 1893.

With intense winter monsoon bringing very cold air mass from the north, sub-zero temperatures could sometimes occur on high ground and in the New Territories, where there were reports of frost, ice, rime or even slight snow. From 1967 to 1975, there were four days with slight snow reported in Hong Kong (see table). Although frost and ice still occasionally occurred in winter, there was no more report of snow ever since.

The more you know! ☃️

I was really surprised by some of these!

Anyone over 5 definitely outclasses me.

I think this one is really good for the age group! I would have picked this as the 0-5 First Prize, but I didn't read all the rules and judging criteria, so maybe they got dinged for something.

The colors make me think of being a kid in the 80s/early 90s!

I greatly enjoy the colors and patterns in this one.

Thailand had too many amazing entries

It made me wonder if Thailand is really big into owls. It did seem disproportionate.

I do believe one is a fish owl, which I enjoyed.

Could just be better promotion of the prize. I didn't know it existed before you posted. But, it could be that it got better visibility in Thailand and therefore more entries.
Or, maybe Thailand is more into art for their young ones. Can't say I know much about the culture there.

Yeah, I expected most entries to be from the US. The International Owl Center isn't (currently) a very big place. Still, exciting to see kids everywhere put so much effort into it and enjoying owls.

Great art, really humbling!

None of them ever helped get anyone elected Owl of the Year though!