National Marine Week is an initiative by The Wildlife Trusts, celebrating the UK’s marine and coastal wildlife. National Marine Week takes place from Saturday 27 July to Sunday 11 August 2024 – it spans a fortnight due to varying tidal conditions around the UK.

As part of last year’s celebrations, Essex Wildlife Trust launched Coastal Creations Art Competition, where entries are related to the coastal and marine environments in Essex. Over 150 entries were submitted, including submissions from care homes, schools and nurseries.

This year’s National Marine Week theme is Sea the Connection, celebrating the diverse ways people feel connected with the sea. Essex Wildlife Trust is encouraging people to share their favourite seaside memories, places and species through art in this year’s competition.

The Trust invites anyone to submit an entry to the competition into one of three categories:

Sea the connection: Art that explores what the coast means to you, whether that is a favourite memory, landscape or species.

Hidden treasure: Turn something you have found on a litter pick or beach clean into art.

Troubled waters: Help us highlight endangered marine species and the threats to the ocean.

The competition welcomes guest judge Michelle Parsons, who will also be one of the local artists donating prizes for the competition. A winner will be chosen for each category and artwork will be displayed in an exhibition at The Naze Nature Discovery Centre in Walton-on-the-Naze.

The competition is open from 27 July until midnight 31 August 2024.

The Trust is also hosting a series of marine-related events throughout National Marine Week, including beach cleans, pop-up science laboratories, shore-searches and more.

 To enter Coastal Creations Art Competition and to see a full list of events on Essex Wildlife Trust’s website, visit:

Enter Coastal Creations Art Competition

Marine events in Essex 

Rachel Langley, Head of Marine and Conservation Recovery, for Essex Wildlife Trust says:

“We are champions of the Essex coastline. Our marine life is exciting. We often see seals popping their curious heads out of the waters, spot porpoise fins poking out of the waves and, on rare occasions, see seahorses in our estuaries. National Marine Week is a great opportunity to celebrate this wonderful wildlife and raise awareness of lesser-known species and habitats. What’s great about Coastal Creations is that anyone in Essex can part, whether you live right by the coast, or have memories of visiting. We look forward to seeing all the creative entries from the public.”