Adam Grimm, a student at Columbus College of Art and Design in Columbus, Ohio, is the youngest artist ever to win the contest. He is also the first artist ever to have placed in the Federal Junior Duck Stamp Design Contest, which the Service sponsors each year in schools nationwide.
Grimms oil painting of a mottled duck bested 242 other entries and will become the 2000-2001 Federal Duck Stamp, which goes on sale July 1, 2000.
Second place in this years Federal Duck Stamp Contest went to Terry Doughty of Brookfield, Wisconsin, for his acrylic painting of a black scoter. Paco Young of Bozeman, Montana, took third place with his acrylic rendition of a mottled duck. Both Doughty and Young have placed among the top twenty entries in the Federal Duck Stamp Contest in recent years.
In 1996, Grimm placed fourth in the Junior Duck Stamp Contest. Modeled after the Federal Duck Stamp art competition, the Junior Duck Stamp Conservation and Design Contest is part of an innovative educational curriculum that teaches youngsters in grades K-12 about wetlands and waterfowl conservation. Grimm placed fourth in the 1996 Junior Duck Stamp Contest.
The new Federal Duck Stamp depicts a single mottled duck from behind, poised to take off from a sun-dappled pond. Grimm, whose hometown is Elyria, Ohio, said that he often spends time in the marsh observing ducks and other waterfowl. "I have always been impressed by their movements," he said, "and Ive always been interested in strong lighting. Grimm also noted that he benefitted from attending a Duck Stamp artists workshop sponsored by the Fish and Wildlife Service.
"I spent 2 1/2 weeks on this painting and then I took it to the workshop in Montana where I got advice from [previous Duck Stamp Contest entrants] Daniel Smith, Paco Young and Bruce Smith," Grimm said. "Then I went home and made changes."
The mottled duck is a non-migrant resident of the Gulf Coast of Mexico north of Tampico, and Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida and South Carolina. It frequents lakes, marshes and ponds of fresh to brackish water. Primary foods include small seeds, aquatic vegetation and some invertebrates. The mottled duck is a close relative of both the mallard and the black duck, and also embraces the bird once known as the Florida duck.
The top 20 paintings from this years contest will be displayed at the Easton Waterfowl Festival in Easton, Maryland, November 12-14. They will also appear at the San Bernardino Waterfowl Festival in Redlands, California, later this month.
Eligible species for this years contest were the black scoter and the mottled duck. Eligible species for next years contest will be the American green-winged teal, black duck, northern pintail, ruddy duck, and American widgeon; by the year 2002, all North American waterfowl species will have appeared on the Duck Stamp at least once.
Conducted each year by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Federal Duck Stamp Contest is the Nations only Federally sponsored art competition. No cash prize is awarded, but winning can boost the professional reputation of even a previously unknown wildlife artist. Winning artists stand to make hundreds of thousands of dollars from the sale of limited editions of prints of their Duck Stamp designs.
All waterfowl hunters age 16 and older are required to purchase and carry Duck Stamps. Ninety-eight percent of the proceeds from the $15 Duck Stamp goes into the Migratory Bird Conservation Fund, which purchases wetlands for the National Wildlife Refuge System.
Increasing numbers of stamp collectors, wildlife art lovers, and conservationists are also buying it to add to their collections, enjoy as a miniature work of art, or as a simple way to support conservation. Duck Stamps can also be used to gain admission to those national wildlife refuges that charge entry fees.
Duck Stamps bearing this years winning design will go on sale at post offices, national wildlife refuges, the Peabody hotel in Orlando, Florida, some national retail chain stores, and various sporting-goods stores nationwide July 1, 2000. The 2000-2001 Duck Stamp will be available at select locations in both a self- adhesive format and the traditional gummed format. The Duck Stamp may also be purchased directly from the Federal Duck Stamp Office.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal Federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting, and enhancing fish and wildlife and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 93-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System comprised of more than 500 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands, and other special management areas. It also operates 66 national fish hatcheries and 78 ecological services field stations. The agency enforces Federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Aid program that distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies.
-FWS-
Editors Note: Black-and-white glossy prints and color slides are available on loan from the Fish and Wildlife Services Duck Stamp Program Office, 202-208-4354.
Photos of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place art are also available on the Internet at http://www.fws.gov/r9dso (jpeg format).
