Connecticut Junior Duck Stamp Winner for the 2020 Art Competition
Congratulations are extended to Julia Phillips, age 13, of Avon, CT, whose colored pencil drawing of a Canada goose was selected as the overall winner of the 2020 Connecticut Junior Duck Stamp Art Competition. Julia is a student at the Farmington Valley Arts Center and has been drawing since she could hold a pencil. She also loves sculpture and painting. Other than art, Julia likes reading, baking, animals (has a guinea pig and a dog), participates in Girl Scouts, and loves Maine and the beach.
Julia’s artwork will be featured on the 2021 Connecticut Migratory Bird Conservation (Duck) Stamp. The change to using the Junior Duck Stamp winning art ensures that a Connecticut artist represents our state Duck Stamp. Further, the school curriculum associated with the Junior Duck Stamp Contest is geared towards waterfowl and wetland conservation. This helps foster an appreciation for the species being painted by the students and, hopefully, provides students with a better connection to the natural world.
The Junior Duck Stamp Contest is divided into four age groups spanning from kindergarten through high school. Winners in each age group are then judged against each other to determine the overall state winner. Audrey Kolodziej, age 7, of Wallingford won her age group with a colored pencil drawing of wood ducks. Macayla Samorajczyk, age 9, of Oxford, won her age group with a colored pencil portrayal of a ruddy duck. Julia Phillips (the overall winner), age 13, from Avon won her group with a colored pencil drawing of a Canada goose. Marielle Kan, age 15, from the Barn for Artistic Youth in Niantic won the oldest age group with a pair of wood ducks.
As both a required purchase for waterfowl hunters, and as artwork sought by collectors, conservationists and other nature enthusiasts, Connecticut Migratory Bird Conservation Stamps have great visibility and generate substantial revenue for conservation and environmental education in the state.
Young Connecticut artists in kindergarten through grade twelve are encouraged to submit their artwork of a waterfowl species in the Connecticut Junior Duck Stamp competition sponsored by the Connecticut Waterfowl Association (CWA). Students are judged in four groups according to grade level. Three first, second, and third place entries are selected for each group. A “Best of Show” is selected by the judges from the 12 first-place winners. The “Best of Show” is then entered into the national Junior Duck Stamp Contest, which is sponsored by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). The first place design from the nationwide contest is used to create a national Junior Duck Stamp for the following year. Junior Duck Stamps are sold by the U.S. Postal Service for $5 each. Proceeds support conservation education and provide awards and scholarships for the students, teachers, and schools that participate in the program.
The Connecticut Federal Junior Duck Stamp Program, which is administered by the Connecticut Waterfowl Association (CWA), will begin awarding monetary scholarships to the schools with winners from each age category (kindergarten-3rd grade, grades 4-6, grades 7-9, grades 10-12). The Connecticut Waterfowlers Association, a non-profit volunteer group created in 1967 dedicated to wetlands and waterfowl conservation, has administered this program since its beginning in 1987. Its mission is to conserve wetlands and waterfowl in Connecticut, and only in Connecticut.
Stay tuned for details on how students and teachers can participate in the 2021 Connecticut Junior Duck Stamp Art Competition. Please note that the deadline to submit artwork will be March 15, 2021. (Reprinted with permission of CT DEEP)