WYOMING — The winners of the 2023 Wyoming Junior Duck Stamp Program have been announced in a celebration of student art and native waterfowl.
The Program uses both science and art principles to teach wetland habitat and waterfowl biology to students in kindergarten through high school. The art contest provides an opportunity for students to artistically express their knowledge of the diversity and beauty of waterfowl and their habitat.
There were 211 total art entries submitted from around the state, from students in K-12. Students also included a “conservation message” with their art to summarize what they learned through the program.
Students submitted artwork featuring the following native North American species: whistling ducks, swans, geese, dabbling ducks, diving ducks, sea ducks, mergansers, stiff tails or Hawaiian ducks. Artwork entries were judged on the basis of original design, anatomical accuracy, artistic composition and suitability for reproduction on a 1” by 1.5” stamp.
Hayden Watts of Powell, Wyoming, produced Wyoming’s 2023 Best of Show artwork. His piece, titled “Sitting Duck,” captures a ruddy duck with colored pencils.
“Protecting even one habitat can preserve many others.”
Amelia Kousoulos
Amelia Kousoulos of Powell, Wyoming, submitted this year’s winning conservation message: “Protecting even one habitat can preserve many others. Just one small act can save many creatures.”
Watts’s artwork and Kousoulos’s conservation message both advanced to represent Wyoming at the 2023 National Federal Junior Duck Stamp Contest, judged on April 14.
Wyoming’s Junior Duck Stamp Program also awards a “Betty Nelson Artistic Promise Award” to the youngest age groups to an artist or artists the judges feel exhibit exemplary artistic promise, which went to both Aven Walrath of Rock Springs, Wyoming, and Bridger Hatling of Pine Haven, Wyoming, this year.
The new Junior Duck Stamp will be released in June of 2023 and will be available for $5 here, as well as from some U.S. Postal Service locations, National Wildlife Refuges and through the Amplex Corporation. Proceeds from the sale of the stamps support conservation education and provide prizes, awards and scholarships for students participating in the Junior Duck Stamp Program.
The winners of the Junior Duck Stamp contest will also be part of an online exhibit on the regional Flickr site. Educational guides for youth, educators, home school and non-traditional education are available through the Junior Duck Stamp Program by contacting (307) 201-5433 or Raena_Parsons@fws.gov for free copies.
