13 schools in four school districts submitted artwork from 195 students. The given topic of promoting awareness of night migrating birds is very challenging. Few artists have ever attempted to depict the active phenomenon of nocturnal bird migration. The guidelines for the awards suggested a range of content for students to utilize in their work.

The overall quality of the art was outstanding and the ranking for awards very difficult.  One judge wrote: "The overall quality of the birds depicted in most of these classes was astonishing to me! Incredible talent. As a result, I had to use strict elements based on the criteria described to do the ranking. A work portraying the night sky and/or migration of more than one bird, for example, would rank higher than one of similar skill presented in a daytime scene. If the concept of the journey was at all symbolized, that would edge out artwork of a wonderful bird on a branch portrait."

So, for the four judges involved, the determination of the "winning" art became based on a complicated equation blending their subjective take on artistic quality with how well the content fit the main focus of the guidelines: "depicting the immense waves of nocturnal bird migration over the region of their schools....each artwork serving as a bridge to help people visualize and appreciate this amazing phenomenon."

Congratulations to all who participated in the 2026 Old Bird Art Awards and we highlight the awardees noted below. Follow the middle school & high school links to see their artworks. Submitted artworks not shown on the awards pages is linked to on the project's webpages for the schools.