Award Winning Photography

Earlier this summer, I submitted two photos for the state fair's photography competition. Then, a couple weeks ago, I got a postcard in the mail, letting me know that one of my photos had been selected to be displayed during the fair, and it had also won an award. Being that this was my first time entering the competition, and it's known to be the most difficult of all the contests at the state fair, I thought I would be fortunate just to have one displayed. It was a happy surprise to find out that I had actually won something.

Last night there was a photography reception and awards ceremony at the fair grounds. So Dakota and I left the girls with their favorite sitter, and headed out for the blistering hot evening. The heat index was well over 100 degrees, and the photography building was not air conditioned. But they did have several large fans up, and I was happy to find my photograph located right next to one such fan.



This was a photo I took of Emma in a butterfly house a while back. It won an honorable mention ribbon, and was also published in a book and on a poster with the other award winning photographs.

I didn't realize how difficult the photography competition was until they gave some information about it last night. I felt pretty honored to have it selected and win something after they explained that the photographs went through 14 rounds of judging. Almost 5,000 photographs were submitted, and only about 18% were selected for display during the fair. Of that 18%, a much smaller number were awarded anything.

It'll be neat to go to the fair next week and show Emma her picture up on the wall there.