Gathering Waters announced a photo contest this spring, which was something of a nail-biter for us on staff. Will anyone send us pictures? What if it bombs?
We anticipated about 50 entries. Not that we don’t always aim high! But we ARE Midwesterners, so humility is a big factor in our equations, and we really weren’t sure what to expect.
We should have more faith in shutter happy Wisconsin outdoors folk. We received 180 images from 60 photographers and they were fantastic. We gave the hard part of narrowing down the field and selecting winners to two generous volunteer judges: National Geographic Senior Photo Editor (and Pam’s college crew captain) Sadie Quarrier, and award winning designer and Principal at Cricket Design Works (the graphic design studio that makes Gathering Waters look so good) Kristin Redman.
Here are the winners:
Overall winner, taken by Paul McMahon at the Pheasant Branch Conservancy in Dane County
Winner of “Stewardship’s Successes” taken by David Niergarth at the Prairie Ridge Conservation Park in Dane County
Winner of our student entries, taken by Evan Eifler at a CRP bird research site in Iowa County
Winner of our “People protecting Wisconsin” category taken by Adrienne Wallner along the Menominee River, Marinette County
There are runners up, too, since there were too many to pick just 4. You can see these photos printed, framed, live and in person next Thursday at the 2010 Land Conservation Leadership Awards Celebration, September 30 in Madison. The winning images are the 2010 Awards, which will hang in the offices of some Wisconsin conservation heroes, reminding them how much we appreciate their work to protect the very, very pretty state we share.
