Emma Walsh, winner of the Rhode Island Junior Duck Stamp Competition, with her winning entry. Photo by Gerry Matteo.

Each year, the Rhode Island National Wildlife Refuge Complex hosts the annual Federal Junior Duck Stamp Contest with great success. This year, we received 637 original pieces of art work submitted by students in grades K -12.  Judges, as in past years, included teachers, artists, land managers, biologists, carvers and refuge managers. The 100 winners were announced and honored at the FJDS Award's Day, April 7, 2007.  Emma Walsh, 18, of Exeter-West Greenwich High School was announced as the Best of Show winner and her entry has been sent to the Washington FDS Office for national judging.  The Award's Day program included six conservation organization sponsors and their displays, a Native American Dancer, the Exeter-West Greenwich High School Choir, and of course T.R. Bear and the Blue Goose!

The 100 winning pieces will be on a summer-long tour across the state, including the RI Audubon Environmental Education Center in Bristol, Sachuest Point NWR Visitor Center in Middletown, RI NWR Complex's Kettle Pond Visitor Center in Charlestown, and the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence.

We received the following testimonials: 

"What a great event - I was impressed with the attendance! My principal, Denise Boule loved it. We have more and more pressure to do cross-curricular work, as well as community service related things - you are what educational reform is all about." Elizabeth Lind - teacher from Exeter-West Greenwich High School

As reported in the Narragansett Times: "It's good to keep art in the schools. It's a good outlet for the kids and a way to encourage them to go forward with their talent. I don't think I would have ever recognized the talent that my daughter had if it weren't for her in this competition and the art program at the school." by Jackie Murphy, Parent of Rachel Murphy, age 10, a student at Matunuck Elementary School.