2011 MINGO SWAMP PHOTO CONTEST

Left to right... Aaron Horrell first place Photo Club category; Rebecca Moore first place Professional category; Cody Moore first place Wildlife category for youth; Ben Mense Mingo NWR manager; Bill Brennan winner Best-in-Show; and Amy Hayes first place Landscape category for youth 17 years and younger.

Sixty seven nature images were selected recently by six judges for inclusion in the 2011 Mingo Swamp Photo Contest traveling exhibit. As in past years this annual contest exhibit will begin its journey around the state of Missouri with a month-long showing at Cape Girardeau Conservation Nature Center during October.

Other locations where the exhibit will stop are...

November... Sikeston Depot Museum, Sikeston, Mo.

December... August A. Busch Nature Ctr., St Charles, Mo.

January.... Powder Valley Nature Ctr., Kirkwood, Mo.

February... Burr Oak Woods Nature Ctr., Blue Springs, Mo.

March...... Springfield Nature Ctr., Springfield, Mo.

April.. USFWS National Conservation Training Ctr.,

Shepherdstown, West Virginia

May.... Runge Nature Ctr., Jefferson City, Mo.

June... Bass Pro Shops, Springfield, Mo.

July... exhibit will return to Mingo National Wildlife Refuge

Winning this years contest is Bill Brennan of marble Hill, Mo. with his photo of a prothonotary warbler titled "Swamp Candle". Alternate best in show award was given to a landscape titled "Early Morning Forest" by Mark Pelton of Poplar Bluff.

Ten different photographers won first place awards in eleven different categories. A twelfth category was established this year to allow organizing members of the Mingo Swamp Photo Contest to enter the contest as well. Winning entries to this new category are ineligible for best/alternate best-in-show recognition and win no monetary prize. However, winning entries in this new category will travel with the exhibit.

Information on how to enter the 2012 Mingo Swamp Photo Contest can be obtained by accessing the Mingo Swamp Friends website at www.mingoswampfriends.org or by calling Mingo National Wildlife Refuge at 573-222-3589.

The annual Mingo Swamp Photo Contest is sponsored by:

Mingo Swamp Friends Photo Club,

U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, and

Mingo National Wildlife Refuge.

Contributors who make this event a reality are:

Drury Southwest, Inc.,

River Hills Traveler, and

First Midwest Bank of Puxico, Missouri