The Tidal Shift Award aims to leverage the power of socially-aware artworks, awarding and platforming teenagers and young adults who are focused on solutions for climate change. The competition is open artists aged 14-22 that live east of the Mississippi River, and submissions are being accepted until January 31. Participants can use any medium – check out some of the 2025 winners below!

Hannah Sul’s “Ebb of Color” Artist Statement: This piece symbolizes the devastating effects of coral bleaching I learned in my freshman Earth Science class, where rising ocean temperatures cause corals to expel their algae, leaving them white and disrupting marine ecosystems. Fascinators, with their intricate and eye-catching beauty, seemed like the perfect medium to show the vibrance of coral reefs. By physically wearing a coral reef scene, I wanted to emphasize that humans and Earth are one—we are part of nature. After painting the design, I sprayed it almost entirely white to reflect the sharp contrast of coral reefs losing their color. I left a small part of the reef in color to symbolize the remaining hope. But we shouldn’t use that hope as an excuse to assume these environmental conditions will improve on their own and remain bystanders. Instead, we must use it to believe that change is possible once we take action.

Sophia Shannon’s “Entangled rights” Artist Statement: During my senior year of high school, I undertook a capstone project that had to capture both my learnings and aspirations. One evening, I learned from the news about the decline in the right whale population due to ship strikes and fishing gear. The population is also finding it difficult to adapt to its warming environments. Today, the Gulf of Maine is warming faster than any other ocean surface on the planet. The effects of this are altering the whale’s migrating habits due to changes in food sources. Unfortunately, these new migration patterns are leading the whales into less protected areas where they are more vulnerable to entanglements and ship strikes. This issue deeply affected me and fueled my creativity. I wondered how I could create an art piece that would be both visually compelling and educational for the public.