Science Without Borders Scholarship Challenge

Scholarship Sponsored by Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation

Intro The 2026 Science Without Borders® Challenge centers on “Microscopic Marine Life.” This year’s contest asks student artists to portray the vital, beneficial roles that tiny marine organisms play in ocean ecosystems and on the planet as a whole. Your entry should illustrate how microscopic life — such as phytoplankton, zooplankton, bacteria, protists, and other minute ocean organisms — supports marine food webs, influences the climate, or helps maintain the health of the oceans and atmosphere. About the theme Microscopic marine life may be invisible to the unaided eye, but these organisms underpin ocean productivity, contribute to global biogeochemical cycles, and affect the air we breathe. Through your artwork, reveal their diversity, beauty, and positive impacts. Entrants should focus on showing the beneficial contributions of these organisms rather than negative or alarmist portrayals. What counts as microscopic marine life? Microscopic marine organisms include single-celled and very small multicellular species that live in the ocean and usually must be seen with a microscope. Examples to consider in your artwork: phytoplankton (primary producers), zooplankton (small drifting animals), bacteria, protists, and other tiny marine microbes that play critical roles in food webs and ecosystem processes. Key dates and entry method - Submission deadline: March 2, 2026 at 11:59 PM Eastern Time (ET). Entries received after this time will be disqualified. No deadline extensions will be granted. - All entries must be submitted online through the official submission form. Email submissions are not accepted. - There is no entry fee. Who is eligible - Students ages 11–19 enrolled in primary or secondary school (or the homeschool equivalent) anywhere in the world may enter. - Applicants who are 10 may participate only if they will turn 11 by March 2, 2026. - College and university students are not eligible. - Proof of age, identity, or school enrollment may be requested. Artwork requirements - Work must be original and created by the submitting student. Entries must not violate copyrights or third-party rights, nor copy previous Science Without Borders® submissions, other competitions’ entries, or characters from films or cartoons. - Only two-dimensional, hand-made artwork is allowed (examples: paintings, drawings). Acceptable media include paint, pencil, marker, crayon, ink, felt, oil pastel, and similar traditional art materials. - Do not use photographs, digitally produced art, or collages made from magazines, newspapers, or other non-original sources. Digitally created images and photos are not accepted. - There are no minimum or maximum size restrictions. - Group entries are not permitted; each piece must be the work of one individual artist. - Only one submission per participant. Submission materials and description - Complete all required fields on the online Submission Form and upload a photograph or scan of the original artwork. Carefully explain in your description how the piece relates to the theme; if judges cannot determine that your artwork addresses the theme from the image and description, the entry may be disqualified and no certificate awarded. - All eligible participants will receive a digital certificate if their entry meets the theme and eligibility requirements. Teacher sponsor and contact information - Every entrant must provide a teacher sponsor. This can be any teacher from school, an after-school program, or a homeschool teacher. Parents or guardians may act as the teacher sponsor only if they are the student’s official homeschool teacher. - On the submission form provide the teacher sponsor’s name, current phone number, and email address. Notify the teacher in advance; the Foundation will contact sponsors to confirm age and grade where needed. - In addition to the teacher sponsor, all participants must supply parent/guardian contact details. These contacts must be different from the teacher sponsor’s information. This requirement applies even to entrants who are 18 or older. Inaccurate or missing contact information may result in disqualification. COPPA and minors - Participants aged 11 or 12 must complete online Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) forms. The form must be submitted as directed on the contest site. Original artwork mailing for semi-finalists - If selected as a semi-finalist, you will be required to mail the original artwork to the Foundation to remain eligible to win. Original works submitted by semi-finalists will not be returned. Content restrictions and disqualification - Do not include nudity or explicit content. The Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation reserves the right to disqualify entries judged to be offensive, plagiarized, not original, or unrelated to the theme. - Entries that fail to comply with contest rules will be disqualified. Use of entries and announcements - By entering, participants grant the Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation permission to use submitted artwork, descriptions, and student information (name, country, age) for promoting the Science Without Borders® Challenge, education, ocean conservation, and the Foundation’s work in any media worldwide and in perpetuity. If a parent/guardian indicates otherwise on the COPPA form, the Foundation will take that into account. - Winners and their parent/guardian and teacher will be contacted before any public announcement is made. Commitment to fairness - The Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation is committed to conducting this contest with fairness, integrity, and ethical standards. If you have questions about teacher responsibilities, submission formatting, or other procedural details, refer to the contest’s Guidelines for Submitting Artwork and the tips for success and judging rubric on the official contest page.