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 2017 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.

Kids from across the state submitted 574 art entries, from kids in kindergarten up to 12th grade. Students were able to include a “conservation message” with their art summarizing what they learned through the program. Isabelle Olsen, 15, of Wright, submitted this year’s winning conservation message:

“People say that the future holds great things, but without conservation the future holds nothing.”

Wyoming’s 2017 Best-of-Show artwork was of a king eider drake, titled “Taking Flight” by Hannah Saville, 15, of Powell. Saville’s colored pencil of the king eider drake and Olsen’s conservation message represented Wyoming at the 2017 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 www.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 the younger age group, kindergarten through sixth grade, to an artist the judges feel exhibits exemplary artistic promise. This year’s Betty Nelson Artistic Promise Award went to Ryan Cox, 10, of Riverton for a colored pencil and pencil depiction of a wood duck drake.

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.
The following is 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: 

Group I (grades K-3):

Group II (grades 4-6):

Group III (grades 7-9):

Group IV (grades 10-12):