Celebrating world biodiversity with butterfly project

A prize giving ceremony was held yesterday afternoon in the Alameda Gardens for the children who took part in the Gibraltar Botanic Garden’s butterfly competition. Over 65 children took part.
“We thought it was a really good opportunity for us to engage children and to get you all to learn a bit more about life around”, said the Director of the Gibraltar Botanic Garden, Dr Keith Bensusan.
The competition was held to celebrate World Biodiversity Day, the day on which all plants and animals are celebrated.
Winning first prize in the first school category was Aaron Sanchez Soiza, second prize went to Pavel Volitskiy and third to Isabella Parise Martinelli.
Alexander Sanchez Soiza won the Middle School Category.
Dr Bensusan said they had been astounded by the number of children who had participated.
“It was really difficult to choose the winners because the standard had been so high, as you can tell by just looking at all the entries in there,” he added.
The prizes awarded were based on both the quality of the work and the quality of the messages attached.
Such was the standard of entries that the director and staff of the Botanical Gardens felt compelled to single out some butterflies and also presented highly commended awards.
Receiving this award and present on the day from the first schools was Miley Piri, Sara Lopez, Eva Ganan, Emma Jane Garcia and Alice Borda.
Both Julian Corbacho and Nayara Bosco Payas received awards from the Middle School category.
Elizabeth Ulloa Chaura, an Erasmus student who has spent the past three months on the Rock, originally from Chile and currently studying at the University of Almería, was instrumental in the success of the butterfly competition said Dr Bensusan.