Introduction
Fire plays an important role in the life and growth of plants and animals across much of California. Not only do many plants and animals need fire, some places that have not had fire for tens to hundreds of years are at greater risk of fire dangerously affecting the plants and humans that live there. Over the last fifteen years many people in California have been hurt by wildfire and smoke, showing that we need to become fire-adapted. Becoming fire-adapted means taking steps in our homes, neighborhoods, communities, and across the state to protect ourselves from wildfire and reduce the chances that fires will cause harm.
Becoming fire-adapted can look many different ways. For example, it could look like working with your neighbors to remove the vegetation near homes that can fuel wildfires, cleaning the gutters of your house, or building a box fan air filter that will clean the air in your home on smoky days. The UC ANR Fire Network invites 4-H members between ages 9 and 18 to learn more about becoming fire-adapted and imagine a future where Californians are safe from wildfire. Through art, contestants will share what this future looks like, and the creative steps they think we should take for us to get there.
General Contest Information
The contest is hosted by the UC ANR Fire Network as part of the Association for Fire Ecology’s 2026 Beneficial Fire Summit taking place December 7-11, 2026 in San Diego, California. For more information, visit: https://beneficialfiresummit.org/. For more information about contest information and guidelines, please refer to the Contest Guidebook (coming soon)! For questions, please contact Fire Advisor, Tori Norville at trnorville@ucanr.edu.
Before You Create Your Artwork
Youth should complete the following learning activities before creating their artwork:
- Investigate: Learn about one fire-adaptation strategy, such as defensible space, home hardening, prescribed fire, cultural burning, shaded fuel breaks, targeted grazing, or community preparedness. We recommend exploring the UC ANR Fire Network website (https://ucanr.edu/program/uc-anr-fire-network) to learn more about the ways communities can adapt to wildfire.
- Interview: Ask a firefighter, prescribed fire practitioner, family member, Tribal fire practitioner, forester, rancher or community leader what a fire-adapted future means to them.
- Observe: Walk around your home, club meeting site, school, or neighborhood with an adult and look for wildfire safety features.
- Imagine: Imagine what your community could look like if people used the strategies you learned about through your observations, interviews and investigations. Create an original piece of artwork to answer the prompt: “A fire-adapted future looks like…”
Please note: Some youth and families have direct experience with wildfire, smoke, evacuation, or loss. Youth should not be asked to share personal experiences publicly unless they choose to do so, and the contest should emphasize learning, safety, community care, and hopeful action.
2026 Contest Schedule
- Contest submissions must be mailed and postmarked by October 9, 2026 or submitted digitally by 11:59 PM on October 12, 2026.
- Submissions will be scored from October 19, 2026 to October 30, 2026
- Winners will be announced and notified on November 2, 2026
- Winners of the Summit Favorites portion will be announced on December 17, 2026
- Awards will be sent in January 2027
- Submissions will be available for public viewing at the 2027 State 4-H Field Day on May 29, 2027 at UC Davis.
Contest Rules
Please follow the following rules carefully. Submissions that do not follow these rules may be marked down in points or removed from the contest.
All participants must be enrolled as a regular 4-H member (ages 9-18). Artwork must be created by the 4-H member entering the contest.
EXTERNAL IMAGE
A limit of 1 submission per person may be entered. Artwork can only be entered once in the contest.
EXTERNAL IMAGE
Create an original art piece that you thought of, designed and did. Artwork must be submitted on 8.5” x 11” paper. The types of artwork accepted for submission are:
- Paintings - including oil, acrylics, and watercolor
- Drawings - including pastels, colored pencil, pencil, charcoal, ink, and markers (It is recommended that charcoal and pastel drawings be fixed.)
- Collages - must be two dimensional
- Prints - including lithographs, silkscreen, and block prints
- Mixed Media - use of more than two mediums, such as pencil, ink, watercolor, etc.
EXTERNAL IMAGE
All artwork must be original and showcase the theme: “A fire-adapted future looks like…”
EXTERNAL IMAGE
Artwork should not include copyrighted characters (such as Snoopy or Smokey Bear), logos, brand names, or images copied from the internet. Artwork that is changed using computer software or developed using AI will be disqualified.
EXTERNAL IMAGE
Write a 1-3 sentence artist statement. This statement explains what you learned and the message you hope others will take away when they see your artwork.
EXTERNAL IMAGE
Artwork may be submitted by mail or digitally through the online registration form.
- If you are submitting artwork by mail, it must be postmarked by October 9, 2026 with the registration form included. The registration form can be found at the end of this handbook. Please mail artwork to: UCCE Sonoma, ATTN: Tori Norville, 133 Aviation Blvd. Suite #109, Santa Rosa, CA 95403
- Please use a 9”x12” (minimum size) open-end envelope for your artwork. We do not want you to have to fold your artwork. If using oils, pastels, or another medium that may smudge, consider submitting a scanned copy of your artwork digitally or finding another way to protect your artwork while it is traveling by mail.
- If you are submitting your art digitally, please use the online registration form: https://forms.gle/XcQtdAqJJT1yk2HPA
- Artwork submitted digitally must be submitted in a .jpeg, .jpg, or .png file format. Other formats will not be evaluated.
- Artwork submitted digitally should be submitted at the highest quality possible. It is recommended that artwork be scanned at a resolution of 300dpi or higher.
- Please name artwork submitted digitally with the following information: Name_County_AgeDivision_ArtworkTitle (example: JaneSmith_Fresno_Senior_ FireSafeLandscaping).
For further information on scoring and other contest details, please view the Contest Guidebook (coming soon)!