Aging Initiative

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Previous Winners

2012 Contest

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• Finalists

2011 Contest

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• Finalists

2010 Contest

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2009 Contest

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2008 Contest

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2007 Contest

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The 7th Annual Rachel Carson Intergenerational Sense of Wonder Contest

We are pleased to announce the 7th Annual Sense of Wonder Contest. Songwriting has been added to the categories of artistic expression. There is also a new sponsor: the Legacy Project, who joins our long-time sponsors of the contest. The deadline for entries is Monday, June 10, 2013.

What's the Contest About?

The U.S. EPA, Generations United, the Dance Exchange, Rachel Carson Council, Inc., the Legacy Project and the National Center for Creative Aging announce a poetry, essay, photo, dance and songwriting contest. Entries must be from an intergenerational team of two or more persons that are not the same age-- a young person and an older person. The entry should express your sense of wonder about capturing the essence of the natural environment –the sea, streams, the mountains and prairies, a sunrise or moonlight, flowers, leaves, wildlife in its habitat.

We would like your team to share your love for nature through a creative project that tells a story about our precious earth. Capture what you hear, see, feel and taste as you explore and study the natural beauty. Contestants will work across generations to share through one of these distinct mediums their own interactions with and reflections about the sense of wonder of the natural environment.

Dance video entries are not limited to the moving body. You can use live performers and/or capture movement and change visible in nature: ice melting, the sun rising, bees and hummingbirds at work, caterpillars crawling, trees swaying in a breeze, an otter playing in the waves. Everyone is welcome to praise nature in a collaborative work of art. Experienced and first time poets, dancers, songwriters and video makers are encouraged to participate.

Let Rachel Carson's words inspire you. In her book The Sense of Wonder, Carson used lyrical passages about the beauty of nature and the joy of helping children develop a sense of its wonder, of curiosity, and love of nature. It was published posthumously and illustrated with wonderful nature photography. In it Ms. Carson wrote that she would endow every child with "a sense of wonder so indestructible that it would last throughout life." However, "if a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder, he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement, and mystery of the world we live in."