Over 140 students from around the world entered the Mars Society’s Student Mars Art (SMArt) contest over the past few months. The objective of the international competition was for students to depict any phase of the human future on the planet Mars, from first landing to full settlement.
The contest was divided into three groups: Elementary (grades 4-6), Middle School (grades 7-9) and high school (grades 10-12). The winners for all three categories are now being announced below. To view the first, second and third place winners from each group, please click here.
High School
- 1st place: Lhasa Gabrielle Simard (Canada) for “Reve d’un Explorateur” & “Mars Green”
- 2nd place: Hannah van Gemert (Holland) for “Household”, “Peace” & “Pursuit”
- 3rd place: A tie between Zeynep Betul Kiraz (Turkey) for “New Earth, New Dreams” & “Mars Airport” and Jessica Liu (U.S.) for “Stargazing”
Honorable mention: Daniela Linares (Peru) – “TerraMars”; Mihoc Carmen Valerica (Romania) – no title provided; Erin Copeland (U.S.) – “The Girl on the Roof”; Gherghita Ana-Maria (Romania) – “The World in Space”; Gulgen Gurgen (Turkey) – “New/Next Planet Mars” & “Launch Pad from Mars”; Jeremy Evans (U.S.) – “New Flags of Mars”; Bhanu Prasad Thandra (India) – “Synthetic Outpost on Mars”; Ghenhea Iulian (Romania) – “The First Drilling Station on Mars” and Pranav Viju (India) – “Next Step MARS.”
Middle School
- 1st place: Hayley Reed (U.S.) for “A New World” & “Martian Glacier”
- 2nd place: Derin Lal Ozoguz (Turkey) for “Colours of Mars”
- 3rd place: Yi Shi (Ghana) for “Life on Mars”
Honorable Mention: Cristian Arhip (Romania) – no title provided; Kyla Danquah (Ghana) – “Mars Population: Too Much to Care”; Anvi Gaur (India) – “ISRO Rocket into Space” & “Life on Mars”; Isaac Martinez (U.S.) – “Free”; Rowena Christhuraj (U.S.) – “Mission to Mars”; Gulsum Yuceer (Turkey) – “Mars of My Dreams”; Tyler Evans (U.S.) – “The Life”; Parnika Thakur (India) – “The Futuristic Survival” and Sofia Spinozzi (U.S.) – “Going to School.”
Elementary School
- 1st place: Worth Lodriga (Philippines) for “Where No Man Has Gone Before”
- 2nd place: Devina Manchanda (India) for “New Life on Mars”
- 3rd place: A tie between Aarna Kakkar (India) for “Dream of the Future”, Gaurish Anand (India) for “Farming on Mars” and Gopika Chawla (India) for “Dream of Success”
Honorable Mention: Aditka Prakash (India) – “Mission to Mars”; Arnav Nagpal (India) – “Mission to Mars”; Rachit Birman (India) – “Future of Humans in Space”; Nimit Jain (India) – “Greetings from Mars!”; Japman Singh (India) – “Mission to Mars”; Joseeelyn Abrajan (U.S.) – “The Future of Mars”; Carlos Roman (U.S.) – “Future Life on Mars”; Elena Musto (Canada) – “A’marsing’ Around Mars”; Yash Yash (India) – “Mars One Mission”; Laura Morris (U.S.) – “Dawn, Early Mars Colony” and Luca Mara (Romania) – “Marte – Planeta Rosie.”
Cash prizes of $1000, $500 and $250, as well as trophies, will be given out to the first, second, and third place winners of each category. There will also be certificates for those receiving honorable mention. Winners are invited to come to the 2017 International Mars Society Convention at the University of California, Irvine September 7-10 to display and talk about their art.
All of the winning works of art will soon be posted on the Mars Society website in the near future and may also be eventually published as part of a book of Mars art.
Commenting on the contest, Mars Society President Dr. Robert Zubrin said, “We were amazed and delighted by the quantity and quality of Mars art produced by students from every continent. Many of these works are truly first rate! It is clear that young people around the world can see the vision of the human future in space, and can use art to allow others to see with their eyes what youth can already see with their minds. This is great. We are going to do this again.”