Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
Wood duck image winner
A festival-like atmosphere prevailed Saturday around a Springs Preserve amphitheater where adults and children explored booths showcasing outdoor recreational opportunities, art displays and nature souvenirs.
But it was all business inside a building at the preserve set aside for final judging of the Federal Duck Stamp Art Contest, held for the first time in Las Vegas.
Five judges pored over more than 160 entries Friday and Saturday before selecting the winning entry: an acrylic painting by Freeport, Minnesota, artist Scot Storm of a wood duck and a decoy.
“Clearly the judges had a lot of work in front of them; it was just so many amazing artists that had submitted their talents,” said Andrea Travnicek, the Department of Interior’s acting assistant secretary for fish, wildlife and parks.
Contest judge Lowell E. Baier, a Washington, D.C., conservation attorney, said it was hard to whittle the strong field of entries to just one. “They’ve never had so many finalists as they did today and so there were a lot of very good qualified entries,” he said. “It’s just that margin, that select margin” that lifts one above the others.
This year’s contest required artists to include a hunting-related accessory or portray the theme “Celebrating Our Waterfowl Hunting Heritage.”
Baier said it was important to acknowledge that heritage “because it had been overlooked in past years.”
Funds from Duck Stamp sales go toward purchasing and leasing lands for wildlife conservation.