The Department of Environmental Protection’s Division of Fish and Wildlife today announced the names of the 10 New Jersey schoolchildren who are winners of the 2006 Fish Art and Writing Contest.

The annual contest encourages children in grades 4 through 8 to learn about New Jersey's fish species and the importance of natural resource conservation. More than 200 students statewide submitted artwork depicting a fish native to New Jersey in its natural habitat. For the writing portion of the contest, students submitted brief essays about the fish in their drawings or paintings.

Contest winners were honored at the Pequest Trout Hatchery and Natural Resource Education Center in Oxford, Warren County, during opening day of trout season April 8. The children received certificates and fishing equipment at an awards luncheon, sponsored by the New Jersey Council of Trout Unlimited. The State Council, as well as all the New Jersey chapters, also donated 25 fly rod-and-reel combinations, 1,000 hooks, four telescoping catch-and-release nets, bobbers, 100 spinning reels, leaders and a refrigerator for the Division of Fish and Wildlife’s Fishing Education program.

After the luncheon, winners had the opportunity to tour the Pequest Hatchery and learn how brook, brown and rainbow trout are raised for stocking in New Jersey’s publicly accessible waterways.

Visit www.njfishandwildlife.com/pdf/2006/fishart_cert06.pdf (pdf, 155kb) for a downloadable certificate teachers can print for every student who participated in the contest.

Winning artwork can be viewed by clicking on each winner's name. The 2006 Fish Art and Writing Contest winners are as follows: