Contact: Laura Rau, Art Competition Coordinator, phone: (302) 739-5841
 

Delaware Duck Stamp, Trout Stamp Competition Winners Chosen

Three male mergansers and the Fenwick Island Lighthouse will adorn Delaware’s 2005 Duck Stamp. The state’s 2006 trout stamp will feature a brown trout with a fly in its mouth.

The paintings won top honors in the Division of Fish and Wildlife’s annual stamp art competition, held Wednesday, March 9 at the Delaware Agriculture Museum. The judging was observed by more than 60 stamp art enthusiasts and the winner of the 26th Duck Stamp Contest, Joanna Rivera of Richland, New Jersey.

Rivera, who won an honorable mention in last year’s contest, is a long-time wildlife and landscape artist but has only been entering stamp design contests, including the federal Duck Stamp Contest, for two years. “This is my first win and I am thrilled,” she said. “Especially since it was so hard to find photographic references of common mergansers to study.” She will receive $2,500 and 150 artist's proofs of the limited edition print series.

The 2006 Trout Stamp winner was Jeffrey Klinefelter of Etna Greene, Indiana, who also created the winning design for the 2003 and 1997 Delaware Duck Stamps and placed second in the 2004 Delaware Trout Stamp. He will receive $250 and retain the rights to reproduce and sell prints.

The Duck Stamp Contest judges were Robert Trapani, president of the Delaware River and Bay Lighthouse Foundation; Rusty Harvey, executive director of Delaware Wild Lands, Inc.; Dr. Kathleen Berhalter, artist and art studio owner; Larry Marvel, Dover Litho Printing Company; Ted Palmer, of the University of Delaware Cooperative Extension Service; and alternates, Arthur Straughn, Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge; and Dr. Donald Parks of Delaware State University and director of the Arts Center Gallery.

Selecting Best of Show for the Trout Stamp art contest were Charlie Miller, professional biologist with Environmental Consulting Services, Inc.; Larry Marvel, printer; Doug Gibson, renowned decoy carver and conservationist; Rick Stephens, Delaware Trout Unlimited board member; and Ed O’Donnell, Delaware Trout Association board member and life-member of Trout Unlimited.

The Division of Fish and Wildlife, in partnership with Ducks Unlimited, began the duck stamp and print program in 1980 to raise funds for waterfowl conservation, including acquiring and improving the wetland habitats that are vital for the survival of migratory waterfowl. To date, almost $2 million has been raised.
The stamps are required in Delaware when hunting migratory waterfowl species. They will go on sale July 1 at the Division of Fish and Wildlife offices in Dover, at license agents throughout the state or online at www.dnrec.state.de.us/fw. Collector stamps and prints are sold only at the Division’s administrative offices.
The Game and Fish Commission, now the Division of Fish and Wildlife, began requiring trout stamps in the 1950s. Trout stamp art was first used in 1977. To fish in Delaware’s designated trout streams, from the annual opening of trout season on the first Saturday in April through June 30, and from the first Saturday in October through Nov. 30, resident anglers ages 16 to 65 must have a Delaware Trout Stamp. Twelve- through 15- year-old residents must have a Young Angler Trout Stamp. All non-resident anglers 12 and older are required to have a Non-Resident Trout Stamp. Trout stamp requirements also apply to the two ponds that are stocked with trout in March in Kent and Sussex counties.

 

-30-

Click Here To Return To The Previous Page