PLEASE NOTE: This event has already occurred.
Date/Time
Date(s) - 02/22/2025
5:00 pm - 10:00 pm
Location
Foellinger Auditorium
Categories
43rd Annual
Insect Fear Film Festival:
Insect-Human Hybrids
The 43rd Annual Insect Fear Film Festival (IFFF) will be held on Saturday, February 28, 2026, at Foellinger Auditorium, on the campus of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Hosted by the Entomology Graduate Students Association in the Department of Entomology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, this year’s theme is Insect-Human Hybrids.
This event is FREE and open to the public. Activities will begin at 5:00 pm CST. This year’s festival will feature:
- An insect petting zoo (not featuring any insect-human hybrids)
- Bugscope (scanning electron microscope) to get up-close and personal with insects and other arthropods
- Insect arts and crafts for the whole family
- A gallery of the annual IFFF art contest featuring insect-themed artwork by local K-12 students
2026 Student Art Competition for the 43rd IFFF
This year, the Insect Fear Film Festival celebrates its 43rd anniversary with films about “Insect-Human Hybrids”! The Entomology Graduate Student Association would like to invite all students, in grades K through 12, to enter the insect art contest. As always, there will be grade categories for competition. In addition, there will be best-of-show prizes in various other categories to be determined. Winners will be awarded prizes by May Berenbaum, Head of the Entomology Department and creator of the festival, at 7 pm, before the films begin. Winning artwork will be on display in Foellinger Auditorium during the festival, and all entries will be displayed on rotation through a slide show on Saturday, February 28th, 2026 (doors open at 5:30 pm). For more information about the festival, please visit: https://publish.illinois.edu/uiuc-egsa/ifff/.
Contest Theme: The theme of this year’s festival is “Insect-Human Hybrids”. Participants may consider submitting artwork featuring ants, but any art incorporating insects or other arthropods is acceptable.
Entry Form: Each entry must be accompanied by a completed entry form. The top portion of the entry form must be securely taped on all four sides to the back of the entry. The label at the bottom of the entry form should be cut out and fixed to the front of the piece on the lower right-hand side of the artwork, as indicated on the form. Digital entries should fill out the form and include it as an attachment in the email.
Artwork: All entries must be either be 2-D works no larger than 11 x 14 inches or digital submissions. Unfortunately, they do not have space to display larger entries. Because the artwork will be moved and handled often it is important that the work be protected. Pencil, charcoal or chalk drawings should be fixed with a fixative spray or work should be covered with a plastic or paper sleeve. By submitting to the art contest, the participants give permission to the Department of Entomology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign to use the artwork for promotional purposes and posted online to the related websites.
Delivery and pick-up of artwork: Entries may be dropped off or mailed to the Department of Entomology Office but must arrive by 5:00 pm, Thursday, February 19th, 2026. Entomology office hours are M-F, 8:30 am-noon and 1:00-5:00 pm. The Department address is:
Department of Entomology Office
320 Morrill Hall
505 South Goodwin Ave.
University of Illinois
Urbana, Illinois, 61801, (phone 217-333-2910)
New this year: they will be accepting digital submissions as well. Please send digital submission via email to enc3@illinois.edu with the subject header “IFFF ART CONTEST 2026”. Artwork files and entry forms should be named with the last name and school of the student (e.g. Clodfelter_UIUC.tiff)
All physical artwork must be picked up from the Department of Entomology after the festival unless arrangements are made for mail return.
On AI (Artificial Intelligence) in digital submissions: They encourage all participants to make art using their own skills and NOT using AI. Artwork made with AI will be excluded from the competition.
For more information, please contact us with the subject header: IFFF43 Art Competition
Ember Clodfelter (enc3@illinois.edu), Satinderpal Kaur (sk150@illinois.edu), or Hailey Baranowski (hib4@illinois.edu)
Please remember that events may be canceled or rescheduled last minute due to unpredictable weather or other factors. We encourage you to reach out to event organizers before heading out to an event to verify it is still happening.
