20 April 2014

On Friday, 18 April, the winning image for the 2014-15 Jr. Duck Stamp was chosen by a panel of judges at the national Junior Duck Stamp Art Contest, held at the USFWS National Conservation Training Center in Shepherdstown, West Virginia.

The Federal Jr. Duck Stamp Art Contest is the culmination of a year-long Junior Duck Stamp (JDS) conservation program used by educators and educator-consivationists across the country. This year, more than 29,000 students participated in state Junior Duck Stamp competitions in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The JDS program was first recognized by Congress in 1994 when the Junior Duck Stamp Conservation and Design Program Act was enacted. In 2000, Congress reauthorized the program and expanded it from 17 states to include students in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. territories. At this point there is no line-item in the federal or the USFWS budget to sustain the JDS program, so the Service has to find the funds to keep it thriving from other funding directed to the Service. Proceeds from sales of the $5 Junior Duck Stamp, however, support environmental education, basically to keep the JDS program as vibrant and creative as possible.

The winning artwork by 16-year-old Si Youn Kim, of Tenafly, New Jersey, is of a male King Eider. About three weeks previously, at the end of March, Kim had won the state-based New Jersey JDS competiton, besting the artwork of nearly 175 other young artists from all over state.

Andrew Kneeland, 16, of Rock Springs, Wyoming, took second place at the national competition with an acrylic painting depicting a Trumpeter Swan with cygnets. Third place went to Jiahe Qu, 15, of Chandler, Arizona, for her rendition of a Hooded Merganser.

"The Junior Duck Stamp Program is a great way for young people to use their creative talents to express an appreciation for nature and the world around them.  This contest is an entry point into a career in conservation, as well," said Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe. "Children can see the results of their hard work and how their art plays a role in conservation — something that will be with them for a lifetime."

You can find more information on the recent  JDS contest and the images of the three top-placing images here.
http://www.fws.gov/juniorduck/