Duck stamp winners announced

Twenty students from the Douglas County School District were recognized for their artwork in the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service's 2010 Nevada junior duck stamp design contest.

Of the 462 Nevada student artists who submitted entries this year, 100 entries placed first, second, third, or honorable mention and will receive a ribbon and other prizes in recognition of their efforts.

All Nevada entries were judged by a panel of five volunteer judges on March 25 at the Department of Interior office building in Reno. The entries were judged based on originality, photo-realism, and accuracy in shape, proportion, and feather and habitat coloring. Each of the four age groups were judged separately to determine three first-place winners, three second-place winners, three third-place winners, and 16 honorable mention winners.

The contest is open to all students in kindergarten through 12th-grade, who submit original artwork depicting North American ducks, geese, or swans in their natural habitat. Patterned after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's federal duck stamp program for adults, the junior program is designed to increase awareness among the nation's youth of the need to conserve North America's wetlands and waterfowl through an educational curriculum, which incorporates art and wildlife management principles.

The design selected as the National winner will be made into the following year's federal junior duck stamp. Proceeds from the sale of the stamp are used to support conservation education awards and scholarships for entrants.

In the kindergarten-third-grade category, Carter Olson, Nicole Jackson and Mikaela Camara, all from Pinon Hills Elementary School, received honorable mentions.

In the seventh-ninth-grade category, Carson Valley Middle School student Kelsey Blotter took first place, classmates Savannah Halow and Taylor Fruth tied for second, and James Vickers took third.

In addition, the following CVMS students received honorable mentions in the same category: Alex Tessmann, Brittany Laney, Cameron Nye, Carissa Swan, Christina Lufrano, Dominique Groffman, Freddy Mueller, Jade Bernhardt, Keatzia Aldana-Marales, Kevin Jameson, Matthew Christl, Ryker Been and Stephanie Trackman.

For more information about the program, visit www.fws.gov/juniorduck.