February is a good time to visit the Wyoming Game and Fish Department Cheyenne Headquarters to see the award-winning work of local youth artists. The 2018 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Wyoming Junior Duck Stamp Program’s top-placing entries are on display until Feb. 28, and is one of the last chances to see this work.
Wyoming kids in kindergarten to 12th grade submitted 546 art entries. Students were able to include a “conservation message” with their art summarizing what they learned through the program. Emma Waite, 17, of Powell, submitted this year’s winning conservation message:“Conservation is a way we can give back to the environment and preserve it for future generations.”
Wyoming’s 2018 best-of-show artwork was of a ruddy duck drake, titled “Ruddy Duck” by Kateri Bell, 18, of Cody. Bell’s oil paint rendition of the ruddy duck and Waite’s conservation message represented Wyoming at the 2018 National Federal Junior Duck Stamp Contest, held last April.
Annually, a panel of judges selects the national level best of show, which will be used to create the National Junior Duck Stamp. The Junior Duck Stamp is available for $5 from the U.S. Postal Service, Amplex Corporation and from many National Wildlife Refuges, as well as at duckstamp.com. Proceeds from the sale of the stamps support conservation education and provide awards and scholarships for students, teachers and schools participating in the Junior Duck Stamp Program.
Wyoming’s Junior Duck Stamp Program also awards a “Betty Nelson Artistic Promise Award” to an artist the judges feel exhibits exemplary artistic promise in the younger age group, kindergarten through sixth grade. This year’s Betty Nelson Artistic Promise Award went to Tessa Davis, 9, of Kemmerer, for a watercolor depiction of two pintail drakes.
The Wyoming Junior Duck Stamp Program is sponsored by the Federal Junior Duck Stamp Program, Seedskadee National Wildlife Refuge and Wyoming Ducks Unlimited and is made possible through support and participation of local teachers, parents and Wyoming students.
Download a list of artists who placed first, second and third, as well as the honorable mentions and recognition for creativity from each group for student’s Wyoming Junior Duck Stamp Program artwork.
