by Frank Zurey

Competition By The Numbers

• 276 individual entries
• 219 slides
• 30 prints and published images
• 29 writing and video works were submitted
• 15 members entered this year’s contest

The most indificual entries were in the Member's Choice category. A digital slide show of all of the slides submitted for the contest was presented at the conference. The published works were on display at the conference.

The Competition & Awards Highlights
This year’s contest featured the integration of film and digital images recognizing that film and digital capture of an image is equivalent and that the resulting image is dependent on the same photographic skills. A total of 211 slides were entered in the nine categories in which both film and digital images could be entered. Forty percent of these slides were entered as digital images. The resulting distribution of awards was similar with 46% of the awards going to digitally submitted images and the Best of Show going to a film submission.

The judge for the writing and video categories was Kendall Slee and the judge for the photography categories was Keith Shrum. Both have extensive experience in outdoor communications.

Kendall Slee is a freelance writer and editor in Broomfield, Colorado. She started her career as a newspaper reporter in Colorado – at the Boulder –based Colorado Daily, and as business editor for the Greeley Tribune. She went on to write and edit at Washington D.C.-based Export Today magazine, and then pursued her interest in conservation as editor of the Land Trust Alliance’s journal, Exchange. Kendall was delighted to return with her family to her home state in 2004. Her primary client is currently the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, for which she is editing two extensive collections of articles.

Keith Shrum is the President of Colorado Camera Imaging Center located in Lakewood, Colorado. He has been in the photo industry his whole life, and is third generation in family ownership of Colorado Camera. Keith has followed the transition of the photo industry into digital imaging closely, and has updated Colorado Camera’s excellent standard of photo finishing to include full digital imaging services. Keith is also a partner in Colorado Photographic Academy, a school specializing in all types of photo related instruction, traditional as well as digital. Colorado Photographic Academy is accredited by Red Rocks Community College. Therefore, students can receive college credit for the courses they take. Keith is currently the primary instructor for the school’s Adobe Photoshop® program.

A few of the many highlights of the contest include the following:

• Best of Show went to Ron Kerr for his image “Persistence”
• Member’s Choice went to Sherry Zurey for her print “Auroral Storm”. Sherry entered the contest as a novice – she’s not a novice anymore.
• Lee Allen received first place in the three categories Newspaper Articles, Magazine Articles and Web Writing.
  • The newspaper article was “Facing the Future” with the judge’s comment “Great portrayal, using multiple sources, of a massive dilemma. Well written. Nice to see an article that tackles a topic like this.”
  • The magazine article was "Back from the Brink: the Gila Returns" with the judges comment “Well written. Good balance of perspectives, well researched. Also, a fascinating subject matter.”

Your Chance NOT to Miss Out Next Year!
If you did not enter this year’s contest, commit to entering next year’s contest. It is an opportunity to share your photography and publications with the membership. The slide show and awards presentation are some of the highlights of each RMOWP conference and your participation will make it that much better.

People in the Outdoors

1st Tom Cummings, "Dancing on the Waves"
2nd Tom Cummings, "Not Too Close"
3rd Beto Gutierrez, "Fishing South Padre Island"

Scenics

1st Lee Carr, "Fall Colors"
2nd Tom Cummings, "Mountain Reflections"
3rd Sherry Zurey, "Aurora Magic"

Flora

1st Ron Kerr, "Persistence"
2nd Tom Cummings, "Columbine 1"
3rd Beto Gutierrez, "Flower, Purple"

Fauna

1st Beto Gutierrez, "Bobcat"
2nd Beto Gutierrez, "Doe with Fawn"
3rd Tom Cummings, "Brown Pelican 1"

Best Slide From Last show

1st Ron Kerr, "Tool from the Past"
2nd Maryann Gaug, "Historic Photographer"
3rd Jack Olson, "Sneeze Weed"

Historical

1st Tom Cummings, "Times Past"
2nd John Catsis, "Aztec Autumn"
3rd Beto Gutierrez, "Socorro Mission"

Cultural

1st James Blakeslee, "Beautiful Regalia"
2nd Jack Olson, "Christmas Caroling"
3rd Tom Cummings, "Candy Toss"

Events

1st Tom Cummings, "Its a Goner"
2nd Tom Cummings, "Cutting a Path"
3rd Jim Baker, "The Penalty is Death"

Best of Show

Ron Kerr, "Persistence"

Altered/Composite Images

1st Sherry Zurey, "Egrets"
2nd Sherry Zurey, "Ice Art"
3rd Frank Zurey, "Paintbrush"

Novice Slides or Digital Images

1st Sherry Zurey, "Aurora Hand", "Aurroral Sunshine", "Starry Night"

Color Prints

1st Tom Cummings, " Mountain View"
2nd Tom Cummings, "Time Gone By"
3rd Tom Cummings, "The Great Blue Haron 1"

Black and White prints

1st Tom Cummings, "Upward Reach"
2nd John Catsis, "Survivor"
3rd Frank Zurey, "Sunflowers"

Member's Choice - Prints

1st Sherry Zurey, "Auroral Storm"
2nd Tom Cummings, "Sit Awhile"
3rd Beto Gutierrez, "Trophy in the Mist"

Black and White Published Images

1st Maryann Gaug, "Munch", Colorado High Country Anthology, 2004

Color Published Images

1st Ron Kerr, "Canada Jay", Wildfowl Carving Magazine, Spring 2004
2nd Jack Olson, " Sneffels Range", Colorado 2005 Calendar
3rd John Catsis, "Birds of a Feather", Country Discoveries, March/April 2005

TV/Movie/Video

1st Andy Lightbody, "Super Shoot with Willy T Ribbs", "Life of a Gunnison Kokanee Salmon", "Word Wranglin' and Wrymin' - Cowboy Poet", Rocky Mountain Television LLC

Newspaper columns/editorials

1st Tom Cummings, "The Pros & Cons of Digital Photography", Cimarron Valley People, March 16, 2005
2nd Tom Cummings, "Photographer Debuts New Column, 'Stopping Time'", Cimarron Valley People, March 2, 2005

Newspaper Articles

1st Lee Allen, "Facing the Future", Tucson Weekly, July 22-28, 2004
2nd Lee Allen, "Territorial Triage", Tucson Weekly, November 18-21, 2004
3rd Dan England, " Marshall's Madness", Greeley Tribune, July 8, 2004

Magazine Articles

1st Lee Allen, "Back from the Brink: the Gila Returns", Rocky Mountain Game & Fish, May 2004
2nd Ron Kerr, "Lost and Found", BC Outdoors Sport Fishing, May 2004
3rd John Catsis, "Picture It", Highways, December 2004

Web Writing

1st Lee Allen, "Following Footprints", ESPNoutdoors.com
2nd John Catsis, " New Mexico's Highway 152", desertusa.com
3rd Lee Allen, "Renewing Lake Havasu's Weary Waters", ESPNoutdoors.com

Books and Scripts for TV/Movie/Video

1st Maryann Gaug, "Conquering Mount Sunflower" and "Traveling Alone in Kenya" in Colorado High Country Anthology, 2004
2nd Andy Lightbody, "Chuckwagon Cookoff" Manuscript for Rocky Mountain Television LLC
3rd Maryann Gaug, History of the Land: Fiester Preserve, 2004

Newsletter Writing of Any Kind

1st Ron Kerr, "NOWA Newsletter", July/August 2004
2nd Ron Kerr, "RMOWP Newsletter", October-November 2004
3rd Maryann Gaug, Articles in "Friends of the Eagles Nest Wilderness Newsletter", May 2004