Contacts

Claudine Daniel, 505-864-4021

Elizabeth Slown, 505-248-6909

Oklahoma Students Invited to Compete in Junior Duck Stamp Art Contest

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's annual Junior Duck Stamp art contest is once again underway in Oklahoma.  Students in kindergarten through twelfth grade are invited to submit their unique designs of North American waterfowl before the midnight deadline on March 29, 2006.

The Junior Duck Stamp Conservation and Design program is an art and science program developed for schools by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to teach students about wetlands habitat and waterfowl conservation.  This program incorporates scientific and wildlife management principles into a visual arts curriculum that crosses cultural, ethnic, social, and geographic boundaries to teach greater awareness of our nation's natural resources.

The Junior Duck Stamp has been conducted for the past 10 years in Oklahoma.  Claudine Daniel, the Oklahoma Junior Duck Coordinator, stressed the program's value. "It is a very rewarding experience for students.  It encourages them to learn more about the value of the natural world that surrounds them."

Entries will be judged at the state level in four grade groups: K-3, 4-6, 7-9, and 10-12.  For each age group there will be three first place winners, who will receive $25.

From these 12 winners, judges will select a Best of Show winner.  The Best of Show winner will receive $100, and his or her entry is then entered in the national Junior Duck Stamp contest.  The first place winner receives $5,000 and a trip to Washington, DC to participate in the First Day of Sale Ceremony.  Best of Show entries will be displayed at waterfowl festivals, wildlife museums, and galleries throughout the United States.

Each year the Junior Duck Stamp is created from the first place design from the national contest.  The duck stamps are sold for $5 each by the post office, national wildlife refuges, major sporting goods stores, and on the Internet.  Proceeds support conservation education, and provide awards and scholarships for the students, teachers, and schools that participate in the program.

Last year, students in Oklahoma's public, private, and home school groups submitted several hundred entries.  The Best of Show award went to C.C. Stone, 15, from Broken Bow High School in Broken Bow, OK for her prisma and pastel mixed media artwork that featured a male wood duck.

Students interested in submitting a design can get a booklet that includes contest procedures, design requirements, and an entry form, as well as pictures of last years winners.  The contest regulations booklet can be found online at http://www.fws.gov/duckstamps/ or can be requested from the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge (505-864-4021).  Entries should be sent to the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge, 32 Refuge Headquarters, Indiahoma, OK 73552, Attn: Claudine Daniel.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal Federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 95-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System, which encompasses 545 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 69 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resources offices and 81 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 and Native American tribal governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Assistance program, which distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies.

-http://southwest.fws.gov-

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