Junior Duck Stamp Contest Information
participate in our art and conservation design contest!
Congratulations to 2016 Junior Duck Stamp Contest Winner Stacy Shen!
A pair of Ross's geese was selected to appear on the 2016-2017 Federal Junior Duck Stamp. The design for the new stamp, painted by Stacy Shen, 16, of Fremont, Calif., was chosen by a panel of judges at the national Junior Duck Stamp Art Contest, held April 22 at J.N. "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge in Sanibel, Fla.
High-resolution images of this stamp are available for certain uses. Contact rachel_levin@fws.gov or 703-358-2405.
See the gallery of Best of Show entries from states and territories. These are numbered in random order; state information will be added following the contest.
All students in kindergarten through grade twelve are encouraged to participate in the Junior Duck Stamp Conservation and Design Program annual art and conservation message contest as part of the Junior Duck Stamp Program curriculum.
The art and conservation message competition serve as the "final project" – an opportunity for students to share what they have learned about waterfowl and habitat conservation through the curriculum or through their own study and observation.
Ready to participate in the contest? Here's what you need to do!
1. Review the annual brochure (90.4MB) and print out entry forms ( English (1.6MB) / Spanish (1.2MB))2. Read the contest rules carefully and make sure you meet eligibility requirements
3. Begin researching and preparing your entry
4. Fill in the entry form ( English (1.6MB) / Spanish (1.2MB)) and reference form ( English (215.6KB) / Spanish (390.3KB)) (if required) completely and affix to the back of your entry
5. Mail your entry to your state coordinator by the deadline. It's as simple as that!
General Information
The Junior Duck Stamp Art Contest is the culmination of the Junior Duck Stamp educational program. After studying waterfowl anatomy and habitat, students may express their newfound knowledge by drawing, painting or sketching a picture of an eligible North American waterfowl species.
Because students express themselves best in different formats, the conservation message contest gives them an opportunity to use the written word to express their knowledge. Students from across the United States submit their artwork to their state, territory or district competition.
The "Best of Show" from each competition is submitted to the Federal Junior Duck Stamp Design Contest, where a panel of judges will select one image to become the next Junior Duck Stamp.
click the links for Contest Details and Important Information
Contest Eligibility - Who may participate?
Entry Deadlines
Contest Rules
Eligible Species
Conservation Message
Using References to Prepare your Entry
Judging
Recognition
Return of entries
Display of Designs
Contest Eligibility - Who may participate?
Any K-12 student attending public, private or homeschool (1.3MB) in the United States and the U.S. Territories is eligible to enter, as long as you are a U.S. Citizen, resident alien, or national (a social security number, Green Card or Visa will be required for all Best of Show winners). U.S. Citizens attending schools abroad may enter through their legal state of residence. Students may enter through their school, as a home project or as a part of a youth or community activity (1.5MB). 1. The student who won First Place in the National Junior Duck Stamp Contest the preceding year may not submit an entry in the current year's contest.2. Only one entry per student.
3. Supervising adults should encourage all students to participate in the Junior Duck Stamp education program and enter the art contest.
4. In the case of foreign exchange students, their artwork may be judged at the state level. However, if the artwork is awarded Best of Show, although it may be honored as a winner in that state, it will not be forwarded to the national competition.
Entry Deadlines
Submit your Junior Duck Stamp entry to your state contest by the state's deadline: All entries must be postmarked by March 15, except: South Carolina (entries postmarked by January 10), Massachusetts and New Jersey (entries postmarked by February 15), Maryland, Missouri, Ohio and Virginia (entries postmarked by March 1). Do not send your artwork directly to the national office.
Art Contest Rules
1. Design entries must be contestant's original , hand-drawn creation and may not be traced or copied from photographs or other artists' works.2. Image must be a live portrayal of a native North American duck, swan or goose (refer to eligible spec ies list).
3. The entry may be multi-color, black and white, or a single color; it may be rendered in ink, paint, pastel, crayon, or pencil. Techniques may include scratch-board, airbrush, linoleum printing, paper collage, dry brush, crosshatch, pointillism, etc.
4. No photography or computer-generated art will be accepted. Computers or other mechanical devices may not be used in creating artwork.
5. The physical size of submitted artwork must be 9" x 12" and less than ¼" thick.
6. Image layout must be horizontal.
7. Entries should not be matted.
8. There should be no border around the image. 9. A loose, detachable cover sheet may be laid over the art face to protect it during shipping. Spray chalk and pastel entries with a fixative to eliminate possible scuffing and smudging during transfer of artwork.
10. No lettering, words, signatures or initials may appear on the front of the design. Inclusion of such markings will result in disqualification.
11. See the Junior Duck Stamp Conservation and Design Program and Contest brochure (90.4MB) for detailed contest rules.
Eligible Species
Your entry should feature a live portrayal featuring at least one of the species below. Please note that mute swans, loons, grebes, coots and other such waterbirds are not permitted species.
Fulvous Whistling-Duck (Dendrocygna bicolor)
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck (Dendrocygna autumnalis)
Trumpeter Swan (Cygnus buccinator)
Tundra Swan (Cygnus columbianus)
Greater White-fronted Goose (Anser albifrons)
Snow Goose, including blue phase (Chen caerulescens)
Ross's Goose (Chen rossii)
Emperor Goose (Chen canagica)
Canada Goose (Branta canadensis)
Brant (Branta bernicla)
Wood Duck (Aix sponsa)
American Wigeon (Anas americana)
Gadwall (Anas strepera)
Green-winged Teal (Anas crecca)
Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)
Mottled Duck (Anas fulvigula)
American Black Duck (Anas rubripes)
Northern Pintail (Anas acuta)
Blue-winged Teal (Anas discors)
Cinnamon Teal (Anas cyanoptera)
Northern Shoveler (Anas clypeata)
Canvasback (Aythya valisineria)
Redhead (Aythya americana)
Ring-necked Duck (Aythya collaris)
Greater Scaup (Aytha marila)
Lesser Scaup (Aythya affinis)
Common Eider (Somateria mollissima)
King Eider (Somateria spectabilis)
Spectacled Eider (Somateria fisheri)
Steller's Eider (Polysticta stelleri)
Harlequin Duck (Histrionicus histrionicus)
Long-tailed Duck (Clangula hyemalis)
Black Scoter (Melanitta nigra)
Surf Scoter (Melanitta perspicillata)
White-winged Scoter (Melanitta fusca)
Bufflehead (Bucephala albeola)
Barrow's Goldeneye (Bucephala islandica)
Common Goldeneye (Bucephala clangula)
Hooded Merganser (Lophodytes cucullatus)
Red-breasted Merganser (Mergus serrator)
Common Merganser (Mergus merganser)
Ruddy Duck (Oxyura jamaicensis)
Masked Duck (Oxyura dominica)
Nene (Branta sandvicensis)
Koloa (Anas wyvilliana)
Laysan Duck (Anas laysanensis)
Conservation Message
Each student is encouraged, but not required, to write a short conservation message (90.7KB) that expresses the spirit of what they have learned through classroom discussions, research and planning for their Junior Duck Stamp Contest entries. Conservation messages should be limited to the space provided on the entry form ( English (1.6MB) / Spanish(1.2MB)). One message per state is judged at the national level. States submit either the Best of Show conservation message or the winner of the state conservation message contest. For more information regarding your state's conservation message contest, please contact your state coordinator.
Using References to Prepare Your Entry
Scenes should depict birds in their natural habitat; for example, sea ducks should be shown in ocean areas. Feather colors should be appropriate to the time of the year depicted by the environment. Decoratively designed birds receive equal voting consideration as realistic depictions as long as they are anatomically correct according to species depicted.
Students should not reproduce other artists' visual images for the purpose of presenting them as their own creative work. Only work that is the unique creation of the individual student should be entered into the competition. Please do not submit work which has been copied from another source.
Students may rely on images as guides when producing their artwork. However, the entry must be the student's own creation, and idea and reference materials may not be copied or traced or otherwise presented as the student's own work. Refer to the current brochure (90.4MB) and fact sheet for examples of how to properly use reference materials.
Judging
All phases of the judging procedure are open to the general public. Entries will be judged on the basis of design, anatomical accuracy, artistic composition, and suitability for reproduction on a 1 1/2" by 1" stamp. Both realistic and imaginative interpretations are acceptable.
Artwork is judged by group level – all K-3rd graders, 4th-6th graders, 7th-9th graders and 10th-12th graders are judged within their age group. For each state, district, or territory, there are 100 awards: 12 First Place, 12 Second Place, 12 Third Place and up to 64 Honorable Mentions. Judging at the state level continues until awards have been allocated for first, second and third place, plus honorable mentions.
One student's design will be selected from the 12 First Place winners as "Best of Show." Notification of winners will be made as soon as possible. The state coordinator and/or a member of the Duck Stamp Office staff will oversee all judging events.
Recognition
Awards and prizes vary from state to state; however, all entries receive certificates of participation and the top 100 winners in each state, district or territory receive special recognition. At the national level, scholarships are awarded to the top three artists and the winning conservation message.
In addition, the national art winner and one parent or guardian will receive a free trip to participate in the First Day of Sale ceremony in late June/early July.
Return of Entries
All entries will be returned. Artwork may be mailed back to the student or to the school. In some areas, teachers and students may be notified to pick up artwork at a central location. After the state contest, your state coordinator will inform you of artwork return procedures. Non-placing entries will be returned by June 1.
Placing artwork and the state Best of Show may become part of a traveling display; they will be returned approximately one year after the state contest date.
For questions regarding your artwork or to report a change of address, please contact your state, territory or district coordinator. If artwork is unclaimed, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is not be obligated to trace the location of the artist to return the artwork. All unclaimed entries may be destroyed one year from the date of the contest. Every effort will be made to safely return artwork to the students.
Display of Duck Stamp Designs
Each state, district or territory Best of Show entry will be displayed at the Federal Duck Stamp Contest judging, waterfowl festivals, wildlife museums, and galleries throughout the United States. State programs may also choose to display the top winning artwork. Find out where to see the national Best of Show art exhibit or how to borrow the exhibit on our website. Contact your state, territory or district coordinator to find out about state exhibits.