Sam Guerrero is 9 years old and has now won the same conservation art contest three times.
The Queen Creek boy took one of four winning places in OdySea Aquarium's sixth annual Conservation Art Challenge, having also won in 2023 and 2025. More than 300 children from across the Valley entered this year, and the judging is done blind.
What he made, and what he learned first
His winning piece is a sculpture of a Marvelous Spatuletail, an endangered hummingbird found in a narrow stretch of northern Peru. He built it from recycled amber glass, plastic and cardboard.
The research came before the art. Guerrero, who is home-schooled, worked through library books, documentaries and maps of the bird's habitat before starting on the sculpture, the Queen Creek Tribune reported.
That sequence is the point of the contest. Jess Tammen, manager of conservation and dive operations at OdySea, said children who spend time learning about an animal and the threats it faces start to understand the part they can play in protecting it.
