Wild At Art, Australia’s biggest threatened species art competition for kids has wrapped up for another year.
This year, we were blown away by almost 5000 entries from kids across Australia. Creativity reigned supreme this year, with fluorescent snails, smiling quokkas, robot koalas, stunning three-dimensional collages and more!
As always, the hardest job fell to our wonderful judges who had the near impossible task of picking our winners. Every single entry had heart, originality and skill, but a few stood out.
Here are your 2025 Wild At Art winners.
Best artwork 5-7
First place - ‘Purple Crowned Fairy Wrens want their trees back’ by Elyse, 7.
Second place - ‘Sunshine Feathers’ by Aanvi, 7.
Highly commended - ‘Christmas Boobook at night’ by Matthew, 7.
Best artwork 8-10
First place - ‘The Little Superhero fish with red hands by Sayul, 8.
Second place - ‘Night watchers of the universe’ by Sarah, 10.
Highly commended - ‘The last hugs of the mountains’ by Felicity, 10.
Best artwork 11-12
First place - ‘The Byod forest dragon’ by Tsz Wai, 11.
Second place - ‘The Last Song of the Golden Bell’ by Olivia, 11.
Best artwork by an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander child
First place - ‘Echoes before extinction’ by Oliver, 12.
Second place - ‘Gapu Djabo’ by Olivia, 11.
Highly commended - ‘The Blue Devil’ by Mimi, 10.
Best regional entry
First place - ‘The endangered Cassowary’ by Hannah, 11.
Second place - ‘Black cockatoo in the black sheoak’ by Lincoln, 8.
Best plant
First place - ‘Match stick Banksia’ by Chloe, 11.
Second place - ‘The endangered Rose Mallee’ by Frank, 8.
Highly commended - ‘Wongan cactus’ by Tze Wun (Josh), 5.
Most unusual
First place - ‘Koala Robot’ by Simon, 10.
Second place - ‘Save the rest – the spotted quail-thrush’ by Della, 11.
Highly commended - ‘Swiftie in the wild’ by May, 8.
Best groupwork
First place - ‘Tarkine in Trouble’ by Tamm Art Studio.
Second place - ‘The tree of life where nature heals’ by Art Island Studio.
Judges choice
‘Butterflies are Deaf too’ by Ari, 7.
My name is Ari and I am Deaf and love butterflies. Butterflies are deaf – it’s true. My dad is Deaf as well. This is a picture of a butterfly called the Eltham Copper Butterfly. My dad grew up in Eltham in Victoria and I go to school in Meredith in Victoria a long way away from Eltham and these butterflies have been seen in Meredith! My dad told me these butterflies were extinct in the 1950s but he can remember his dad being excited seeing them in Eltham when my dad was a kid. Then we have gotten to see them together in Meredith and have a joke they like to show themselves to Deaf people only. Just a joke though! I also drew LOTS of pollen as they are attracted to all the yellow pollen at the moment in the paddocks around my school. My friend and I have been trying to catch them to take a photo and draw this artwork but we don’t want to hurt them.
People's choice
First place - ‘Sunshine Feathers’ by Aanvi, 7.
Second place - ‘A small frog with a big problem’ by Ari, 9.
Best written entry 5-7
‘Mr Frog on a Yellow Leaf’ - Aaron by 5.
This is the Spotted Tree Frog and I call him Mr Frog. Mr Frog has a clock on his tummy because time is running out for him. The sun is very hot, and the frog’s home is getting too warm and dry. He can’t even find a proper leaf to stay on. I want people to help frogs and keep the water cool and clean so they can be safe and happy.
Best written entry 8-10
‘The Hand of the Forest’ - Jinhan by 9.
At night, the forest wakes up. The tree becomes a giant hand to hold the sleepy Greater Gliders. The stars twinkle above them like tiny candles. I wanted to show that the forest takes care of its animals, just like a mother protecting her children. I chose the Greater Glider because it is soft, gentle and needs our help to stay safe. I hope people can listen to the forests whispers and remember to be kind to every little life.
Best written entry 11-12
‘Help endangered animals’ - Darian by 11.
What is the first thing you think of when you hear the word EXTINCTION? Maybe you think of the Tasmanian Tiger or the Dodo bird, these animals all had to try to fight to stay alive but they still went extinct. What would you think if all humans went extinct? No one would like that, but this happens to animals due to habitat degradation, plastic, global warming, overexploitation and introducing invasive species. Imagine you have a dog, then suddenly all dogs become extinct. You try to find another dog to replace your dog but there are no more dogs left. Is this amusing? My artwork shows four endangered animals – Alpine Dingo, Mako Shark, Hake Fish, Pygmy Possum. Let’s all make ‘EXTINCTION’ go extinct. Even the smallest things like recycling more things can make a big impact.
Thank you to everyone who took part in Wild At Art 2025. We can’t wait to see your entries next year! You can also check out the full list of finalists in our Facebook album or watch the celebration event hosted live on 28 November 2025.
Curious about next year’s competition? Dates will be posted early next year on our official Wild At Art page.