Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission logo featuring a flying bird, a deer, and a fish on a gray background with green and white border text.

Florida Native Fish Award

Painting of a large fish with vibrant greens and fins, set against a colorful, abstract background with swirling lines and shapes.

Created by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) to celebrate fish species native to Florida’s inland and marine waters. One first place winner and one runner-up will be selected for each grade bracket (kindergarten through third grade, fourth through sixth grade, seventh through ninth grade, and tenth through twelfth grade), one for illustrating the best freshwater fish species and one for the best saltwater fish species. All first-place winners will advance to the National Competition to be judged for top prizes, such as the Best of Show. 

Requirements

Artist must reside in Florida. 

The art must include one or more of the following Florida native species from the same category:

Category 1 – Freshwater:

  • Largemouth Bass

  • Striped Bass

  • Black Crappie

  • Bluegill

  • Redear Sunfish

  • Spotted Sunfish

  • Channel Catfish

  • Florida Gar

  • Chain Pickerel

  • Bowfin

Category 2 – Saltwater:

  • Snook

  • Redfish

  • Spotted Seatrout

  • Flounder

  • Tarpon

  • Mahi-Mahi

  • Spanish Mackerel

  • Hogfish

  • Queen Snapper

  • Black Grouper

Colorful drawing of a large fish underwater surrounded by smaller fish, rocks, and aquatic plants, with sunlight filtering through the water.

Prizes

First place winners in the 10-12 grade bracket will receive 10 t-shirts printed with their artwork to give to family and friends from our partner. The Florida Nomad and the shirts will also be available for sale on their website.

The two first-place winners from each grade bracket, from each category will have their artwork displayed in FWC’s freshwater or saltwater regulations guide.

All first-place winners will have their artwork displayed at the FWC headquarters in Tallahassee.

One lucky artist may be selected from the winners and runners-up, from any grade bracket, to have their artwork available as a hard card selection for their fishing license. Hard cards are available to purchase, at an additional fee, to anyone who obtains or already holds a fishing or hunting license from the Go Outdoors Florida licensing system. A hard card is a collectible, credit-card style document that is an alternative to an electronic or paper license. The selected artist will NOT be sent a complimentary license or hard card.

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission emblem with a deer, a fish, and two birds against a map background.

About the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission

Conservation integration efforts focus on the ecosystem or landscape scale to provide the greatest benefits to the widest possible array of fish and wildlife species. Accomplishing this mission requires extensive collaboration and partnering with local, state and federal agencies to maintain diverse and healthy fish and wildlife populations for the benefit of all Floridians and visitors. Doing so provides direct ecological, economic, aesthetic, scientific and recreational benefits.