2013 Delaware Junior Duck Stamp winners announced

Artistic entries from students in grades kindergarten through 12 throughout the state were judged March 23 in the 2013 Junior Duck Stamp Contest.

Elizabeth Vander Laan, a 12-year-old from Greenville, won best of show in her first year entering the competition. Her watercolor painting of a harlequin duck, titled “Cruising Downstream,” also won first place for grades 7 through 9.

Elizabeth’s winning Duck Stamp entry will be judged along with other state winners Friday, April 19, in the Federal Junior Duck Stamp Design Contest, sponsored by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Office of the Interior and slated to be held at the National Conservation Training Center in Shepherdstown, W.Va. The best of show winner of the federal competition will become the 2013-14 Junior Duck Stamp, and the artist will receive a $5,000 scholarship.

“The Junior Duck Stamp program is unique because it teaches biology and habitat conservation through scientific observation and artistic interpretation to K through 12 students,” said Dawn Webb, coordinator of the Delaware Junior Duck Stamp program.

Sponsored by the Delaware Division of Fish and Wildlife in partnership with Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge, the Junior Duck Stamp competition provides an opportunity for students throughout Delaware to participate in a national art competition keyed to native waterfowl and wetland values. Students learn hands-on activities in waterfowl, wetland and habitat education and conservation while completing duck stamp art entries.

Runners-up for Best of Show were as follows: Second runner-up Alicia Hale, age 16, Bridgeville, “Sunset Melody”; third runner-up Sarah Ding, age 9, Newark, “The Swimming Snow Geese.”  Hale received a first-place award for entrants in grades 10-12.