Green Cambridge and Cambridge Local First have named
12 winners in the Sixth Annual Cambridge City Nature Art Challenge. Mayor Denise Simmons handed prizes to winners at Cambridge Local First’s 617 Day Block Party in Winthrop Park on June 17.
Grade 1-8 students in Cambridge Public Schools, charter schools and out-of-school time programs are eligible to enter drawings, paintings, or works in the fiber arts depicting wild species of plants, animals, and fungi living within city boundaries. Judges Liliana Abramson (Grades 1-4) and Sophy Tuttle (Grades 5-8) reviewed 183 entries this year. The artists were tasked with choosing 2 winners at each grade level (elementary grades) and 2 winners from a pool of all upper school entries.
This year, winning artists each receive a $50 gift certificate to Albertine Press, a Cambridge Local First member business that sells art supplies as well as gifts, cards, games, books, and puzzles.
Cambridge Local First and Green Cambridge’s Wildlife Arts program administer the contest to celebrate young artists whose work helps the community learn about local wildlife and the city’s ecosystem.
The Cambridge City Nature Art Challenge takes inspiration from the global citizen science event called the City Nature Challenge. In 2025, its 10th year, the City Nature Challenge engaged more than 102,000 citizen scientists in documenting wildlife species over a four-day period.
The winners of the Sixth Annual Cambridge City Nature Art Challenge are:
| Grade 1: |
|
|
Jonah K.
|
Kennedy-Longfellow School |
Big Brown Bat |
Abigail A.
|
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. School |
Tansy |
| |
|
|
| Grade 2: |
|
|
| Chloe H. |
Baldwin School |
Large-leaved Lupine |
| Lucas B.M. |
King Open School |
Baltimore Oriole |
| |
|
|
| Grade 3: |
|
|
Jeremiah L.K.
|
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. School
|
Mallard |
| Elvin V. |
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. School |
Rounded Snail |
| |
|
|
| Grade 4: |
|
|
| Maksim K. |
Haggerty School
|
Painted Turtle |
| Claire S. |
Haggerty School |
Black-eyed Susan |
| |
|
|
| Grade 5: |
|
|
Subaita N.
|
Graham and Parks School |
Multiple Species, including Eastern Kingbird
|
| Arthur B. |
King Open School |
Blue Jay, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Eastern American Jack-'o-Lantern, and Hairy Woodpecker
|
| |
|
|
| Upper Schools: |
|
|
| Evan W. |
Darby Vassall |
Yellow-shafted Northern Flicker
|
Divisha S.
|
Putnam Ave. |
Song Sparrow |
See winning artwork >>
Cambridge Local First businesses now displaying posters of this year’s winners in their store windows include:
Elmendorf, East Cambridge
Cambridge Savings Bank, Inman Square
1369 Coffeehouse, Inman and Central Squares
Albertine Press, Inman Square
Nomad, Porter Square
Participating CLF businesses will be added over the coming weeks.
About the Judges
Liliana Abramson is an emerging artist, born and raised in Cambridge and a CRLS alum. She attended Rice University in Houston, Texas, studying both biology and visual arts. These combined fields of study and her biological research background has led to recurring themes of nature, ecology, and environment within
her artwork.
Sophy Tuttle is an English-born American muralist, painter, and installation artist. Her work celebrates and promotes culture-building between humans and all other forms of life. Sophy began painting murals while living in Oaxaca, Mexico in 2013, where she learned from local activists and artists. Her work can be seen from Massachusetts to Colombia, including several locations in Cambridge, including the Broadway Street Garage and, soon, a mural on the new gateway arch to Central Square.
About the Co-sponsors
Green Cambridge works to create a more sustainable city and to protect the environment for the health and safety of all. We are a place-based interpretive science 501(c)3 non-profit centered on career discovery programs for youth aged 14 to 18, arts-based STEAM activities for school-age children, and creating local environment volunteering experiences for adults.
Cambridge Local First (CLF) is a non-profit network of locally-owned, independent businesses in Cambridge, Massachusetts with the mission of supporting and promoting a thriving, equitable local economy through (1) public education and engagement about the significant environmental, economic, and cultural benefits of a strong local economy, (2) policy advocacy, and (3) direct technical assistance to local businesses.