(l-r) FWCC staff member Bonnie Abellera and SMC Board of Directors Co-Chair Helen Spivey with Citrus County middle school student Donovan Foster, winner of the 2006-2007 FWCC Manatee Decal Art Contest (Photo courtesy of Helen Spivey.)

Donovan Foster, a 13-year-old student at Citrus Springs Middle School, was recently selected as the winner of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's (FWCC) Manatee Art Decal Contest.

His artwork, titled "Manatees at Sunrise" was selected to appear on the 2006-2007 manatee decal, which is sold at state tax collector's offices to help fund the state's manatee conservation efforts.

Foster was recognized on Friday, April 28 in a ceremony at Citrus Springs Middle School. Helen Spivey, Co-Chair of Save the Manatee Club's Board of Directors, was at the ceremony and made him an honorary adoptive "parent," of Rosie, a manatee living at Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park.

"It was great to meet a young person who so strongly cares for manatees," says Spivey. "I told him SMC was making him a father today and gave him his manatee adoption packet. They all laughed and his mom told me later he was really pleased."

The recognition ceremony began when FWCC representative Bonnie Abellera read the paragraph Foster had written to go with his artwork:

"As a native Floridian, I know how important it is to protect our natural habitat -- especially the manatee. Living in the Nature Coast, here in Citrus County, hardly a day goes by without mention of our most famous residents, the manatees. I hoped to show, by depicting a serene manatee and her offspring, the gentle nature they possess and that the manatees require us to save them!  We need them as much as they need us; and helping them live on for generation after generation should be of utmost importance to us all."

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See Manatees at Sunrise winning artwork

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