By By MIKE VOSS
Contributing Editor
The 2010 North Carolina Waterfowl Conservation Stamp competition is slated to take place Jan. 25 at Washington Civic Center.
The competition is a prelude to the 15th-annual East Carolina Wildlife Arts Festival and North Carolina Decoy Carving Championships set for Feb. 5-7 in Washington. The artist who submits the first-place entry will receive $7,000.
The competition is a joint project of the East Carolina Wildfowl Guild and N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission.
“I’ll be there,” said J.P. Edwards, the only North Carolina-based wildlife artist to place in last year’s competition.
Edwards’ painting of brants took fourth place.
Gerald Putt, a wildlife artist from Boiling Springs, Pa., won the 2009 North Carolina Waterfowl Conservation Stamp competition. Putt’s winning painting featured American wigeons.
This year will be the third straight year a nationwide, public art competition was conducted to select the winning artwork used to produce the North Carolina duck stamp. In previous years, the N.C. Wildlife Resource Commission picked artists to produce artwork for duck stamps. Putt was commissioned to produce artwork for the North Carolina duck stamps for 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007.
Selected entries from this year’s competition will be displayed at the preview reception for festival. At that reception, to be held Feb. 5, the top five entries will be unveiled by the Wildlife Resources Commission. The top entries will remain on display throughout the festival weekend.
Of the 33 entries in last year’s competition, seven came from artists in North Carolina. Minnesota, Virginia and Pennsylvania followed with three artists from each state submitting entries. Iowa, Indiana, Missouri, Oregon and Wisconsin each had two artists enter the competition. Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Michigan, New York, Texas and West Virginia each had one artist submit an entry.
Twenty-six of the 33 entries were acrylic paintings, four were oil paintings, two were gouache paintings and one was a watercolor.
In the summer of 2006, the guild approached and persuaded the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission to let the guild sponsor a national competition as the way to choose the artwork that will be used to produce the state’s annual waterfowl stamp, according to David Gossett, a guild member and chairman of its annual wildlife festival.
Revenue from sales of the print and stamps go to the commission’s Waterfowl Fund, which provides money for the conservation of waterfowl habitat in North Carolina.
“The money is used to help North Carolina meet its financial obligations in implementing the North American Waterfowl Management Plan, the international agreement helping restore waterfowl populations throughout the continent. In addition, funds have been used to support waterfowl research and to buy equipment used to manage wetlands,” according to the commission’s Web site.