{"id":264789,"date":"2026-05-09T13:21:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T13:21:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/264789\/"},"modified":"2026-05-09T13:21:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T13:21:13","slug":"in-cape-coral-saving-our-environment-one-critter-one-crayon-at-a-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/264789\/","title":{"rendered":"In Cape Coral: Saving our environment one critter, one crayon at a time"},"content":{"rendered":"

Alessia Leathers thought it was going to be just one year.<\/p>\n

Oh, was she ever wrong.<\/p>\n

The Children\u2019s Environmental Art Contest, Coloring the Earth, has been running for two decades.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first Earth Day was in 2005,\u201d Leathers said, right after judging for the 20th\u00a0annual event wrapped up at the Cape Coral-Lee County Public Library. \u201cIn 2006, I came up with the idea to celebrate Earth Day with an art contest. Let the youngest in the community express themselves and their environmental concerns through art. I never imagined I would be doing it for 20 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since 2006, a total of 6,415 children have participated in the contest \u2014 backed by Cape Coral Public Library and the Friends of the Cape Coral Library \u2014 and 333 have won awards.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been doing this a long time,\u201d said Leathers, who is the contest\u2019s chairperson. \u201cIf someone has entered the (age) 10-11 category when this started, they\u2019d be over 30 now.\u201d<\/p>\n

And the first 10 years, Leathers did it all on her own \u2014 deciding on the contest\u2019s theme, finding a keynote speaker (like representatives from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, MOTE Marine and Sierra Club Florida), writing and sending news releases, promoting the contest at events (like the Burrowing Owl and SWFL Reading festivals), arranging for judges, buying the prizes, contacting the winners and so much more.<\/p>\n

\"Annie<\/p>\n

Annie Miller, of Heights Elementary, took first place in the age 9-10 category<\/p>\n

\u201cThe best part is the phone calling the winners,\u201d she said. \u201cYou always hear people screaming in the background, celebrating.\u201d<\/p>\n

Monica Rahman, chair of Friends of the Cape Coral Library art gallery, has helped for the last 10 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe is such a big help,\u201d said Leathers, who is an adjunct instructor at Florida Gulf Coast University and, as a longtime volunteer with the Cape Coral Friends of Wildlife, takes care of the Special Population\u2019s butterfly garden. \u201cShe puts each winner\u2019s drawing in a frame. It comes out beautiful. And she does most of the publicity.\u201d<\/p>\n

And there\u2019s a lot to frame. First, second and third place, plus two honorable mentions, are awarded in each of four categories (ages 5-6, 7-8, 9-10 and 11-12).<\/p>\n

Gopher tortoises, dolphins, manatees, more have been featured\"Trafalgar<\/p>\n

Trafalgar Elementary’s Greyson Vaughan finished first in the age 5-6 category<\/p>\n

With themes of Save the Planet, Save Our Wildlife and Protect Our Waters, there were 50 entries in each of the first three years of the contest. As themes got more specific, numbers rose. In 2015, 367 entered the Protect Our Bald Eagle contest, followed by 520 for the Florida panthers in 2017 and 594 in 2018 for the loggerhead sea turtles. The most came in 2013 when the Protect Our Dolphins contest saw 620 entries.<\/p>\n

\u201cI pick themes based on what needs attention at the time,\u201d Leathers said. The last few years, she\u2019s focused on the Florida scrub jay, smalltooth sawfish and mangroves. \u201cKids learn about the species and how to protect them through their art.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Federico<\/p>\n

Federico Beltran-Velez, of St. Francis Xavier School, was first in the age 11-12 category<\/p>\n

Leathers is moving on to focus on other volunteer projects soon, and this year\u2019s contest is her last. The future of the contest has yet to be determined.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not sad about stepping down,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019ll be sad if no one steps in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before she walks away, though, there\u2019s the current contest \u2026<\/p>\n

Protect our Florida black bears in 2026\"Alessia<\/p>\n

Alessia Leathers is the chairperson of the Children\u2019s Environmental Art Contest, Coloring the Earth. She started the event in 2006.<\/p>\n

A total of 455 entries were submitted for this year\u2019s contest, which put a spotlight back on Florida\u2019s black bears. It\u2019s the only species Leathers used twice.<\/p>\n

\u201cI chose it because FWC decided last year to resume hunting, without any science, our one and only Florida black bears,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Twenty winners will be honored during an awards ceremony at 6 p.m. May 13 at the Cape Coral Library. All are invited to attend the event, which will feature keynote speaker Cris Costello, state campaign director of Sierra Club Florida. She was one of the contest judges, along with Rahman,\u00a0local artists Sharyn Dahn and Kim Carioto, and Robyn George, a reporter for The News-Press.<\/p>\n

The winning artwork will be displayed at the Gallery of Cape Coral Public Library (921 SW 39th\u00a0Terrace) over the summer and featured at capefriends.org.<\/p>\n

2026 Children\u2019s Environmental Art Coloring the Earth winners\"Juliette<\/p>\n

Juliette Pabon, of Oasis South Elementary, took second in the age 5-6 category<\/p>\n

5-6 years old<\/p>\n

First: Greyson Vaughan (6) Trafalgar ElementarySecond: Juliette Pabon (6) Oasis South ElementaryThird: Greyson Hunt (6) River Hall ElementaryHonorable Mention: Kylee Zefri Berry (5) Pinecrest Academy Avalon and Dashiell Courtright (5) Whiz Kids<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The second place finisher in the age 7-8 category went to homeschooler Lincoln Swinto<\/p>\n

7-8 years old<\/p>\n

First: Nico Bartley (7) St.\u00a0Francis Xavier SchoolSecond: Lincoln Swinto (7) HomeschoolThird: Clara Laursen (8) Heights ElementaryHonorable Mention: Emma Romero (8) St. Francis Xavier and Elena Yang (8) Heights<\/p>\n

\"Second<\/p>\n

Second place in the age 9-10 category went to Dominic Joseph of St. Francis Xavier School<\/p>\n

9-10 years old<\/p>\n

First: Annie Miller (10) HeightsSecond: Dominic Joseph (9) St. Francis Xavier\u00a0SchoolThird: Mila Salazar (10) HeightsHonorable Mention: Lydia Hoffman (9) St.\u00a0Francis Xavier and Camille Millsap (10) Heights<\/p>\n

\"Second<\/p>\n

Second place in the age 11-12 category went to Oasis Middle School’s Weston Mecsics<\/p>\n

11-12 years old<\/p>\n

First: Federico Beltran-Velez (11) St. Francis XavierSecond: Weston Mecsics (11) Oasis MiddleThird: Zoey Snyder (11) St. Francis XavierHonorable Mention: Ayva Whitehurst (11) Heights and Isabella Evalle (11) St. Francis Xavier<\/p>\n

Robyn George is a food and dining reporter for The News-Press. Connect at\u00a0rhgeorge@fortmyer.gannett.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Please support local community journalism and stay informed about Southwest Florida news by subscribing to\u00a0The News-Press<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Naples Daily News<\/a>; download the free\u00a0News-Press<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0Naples Daily News app<\/a>, and sign up for daily briefing email newsletter, food & dining and growth & development newsletters\u00a0here<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Saving the environment one critter, one crayon at a time in Cape Coral<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Alessia Leathers thought it was going to be just one year. Oh, was she ever wrong. The Children\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":264790,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[114108,209,211,210,114110,28,9149,80224,114111,114109,114112],"class_list":["post-264789","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-alessia-leathers","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news","tag-environmental-art-contest","tag-florida","tag-florida-gulf-coast-university","tag-florida-scrub-jay","tag-leathers","tag-the-cape-coral-lee-county-public-library","tag-the-children"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264789","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=264789"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264789\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/264790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=264789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=264789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=264789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}