During National Insect Week in June, Buglife and National Insect Week invited children under 13 years old to take part in a competition to Invent an Insect. We asked young insect fans to draw their own insect design, colour or decorate it, tell us a bit about the insect, and send it in to us.
We received over 300 entries! We had a fantastic time looking through the wonderful designs and were very impressed at the vivid imaginations and creativity of the children who entered. The competition was judged by wildlife artist John Norris Wood who cast an expert eye over the entries and picked the winners and runners up in each age category.
The Winners
Congratulations to the following young artists:
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| Winner of the under 5's category - a Bankleflyboo by Amelia from Twickenham, aged 4. It lives in stinging nettles and eats bamboo |
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| Winner of the under 5-8 year old's category - a Lady Stripe by June from Hemel Hempstead, aged 5. It lives on flowers and eats stripy food |
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| Winner of the under 9-12 year old's category - a Lice Snapper by Oscar from St. Neots, aged 9. It lives in rotten wood and eats woodlice |
The Runners Up
Well done to the children who designed these amazing insects
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| Runner up in the under 5's category - a Green Shoed Beetle by Poppy from St Neots, aged 4. It lives in corn fields and eats corn weevils |
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| Runner up in the 5-8 year old's category - a Rainbow Bug by Caide from Hemel Hempstead, aged 6. It lives on pretty flowers and eats flower pollen |
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| Runner up in the 9-12 year old's category - a Starbug by Elle from Cirencester, aged 10. It lives in a tree and eats pollen |
Prize Giving
Prizes will be presented by Germaine Greer at the Society of Wildlife Artists Annual Exhibition on Tuesday 23 September at the Mall Galleries in London. The children's artwork will be displayed and wildlife artists from across the UK will be able to view the insect designs by these wildlife artists of the future!
Thank you
A big thank you to John Norris Wood for judging the competition, and to Boden and Wild about Nature for the kind donation of prizes
The Gallery
We received many wonderful insect designs. Here are a further selection of our favourites.
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Donald Binger by Nathan from Twickenham, aged 4. It lives in a
space rocket and eats mangoes and lemons |
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| Melonfly by Holly from Pulborough, aged 6. It lives in and eats melons |
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Pink Faced Rainbow Bug by Francesca from Boxted, Essex, aged 6.
It lives at the end of rainbows and eats leaves |
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Brocofly by Stanley from Barnstaple, aged 8. It lives in Brocaville and
eats broccoli |
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Snettie by Holly from Hemel Hempstead, aged 6. It lives in a
wendy house and eats jelly beans |
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Emperor Fly by Poppy from Chesterfield, aged 10. It lives in the reeds
by lakes and eats Water boatmen |
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Crabbyshell by Emma from Canvey Island, aged 9. It lives in South
America and eats meat |
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Syncrafly by Lauren from Cambridge, aged 10. It lives in a forest
and eats ant eggs |
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Lightening Peed by Mia from Canvey Island, aged 9. It lives in the
sky at night and eats bats blood |
