Most of us won’t likely remember 2020 fondly but as we enter the year’s home stretch, Iowans are urged to find something beautiful and capture an image of it.
Kevin Techau, executive director of Keep Iowa Beautiful, says the organization’s 20th annual photography contest is now accepting entries.
“We have five categories: Iowa Landscape, Iowa Water, Iowa Cities, Iowans in Action and Iowa Wildlife,” Techau says. “Contestants can enter as many times as they’d like in any of these categories to capture the beauty of Iowa and we do have prizes to award the best photography.”
Keep Iowa Beautiful was co-founded by former Governor Robert Ray in 2000 as a way to help communities make the state a better place to live, work and raise a family. Photography was one of Ray’s favorite hobbies, so the photo contest has been an annual staple ever since. A panel is being assembled to narrow down the best entries.
“We’re going to have a round of judges that will pick winners from each of the five and those will go into the Robert D. Ray Best of Show Award,” Techau says. “In fact, Governor Ray’s eldest daughter, Randi Ray, will be one of the judges who helps make that decision.”
The contest was expanded this year in honor of the 20th anniversary.
“The first prize winner in each of the categories, the prizes are $100, $75 for second and $50 for third place, and then in the Best of Show, first place will be $500, second place $250 and third place $100, and then we’ll have a public award where the public can vote for their favorites and we’ll have $100 prize for the winners in that category.”
There’s a $5 fee for each photo entered with a deadline of December 18th. The rules and entry forms can be found at the website: www.keepiowabeautiful.com.