National Audubon Society Photography Awards 2018

NATIONAL AWARD - Top 100

#11 of over 8,000 ENTRIES - Amazed and Blessed to have this image included in the 2018 National Audubon Society’s Annual Photography Awards. Entries are from all fifty states, Washington D.C., plus ten Canadian provinces. The contest includes both professional and amateur photographers alike. The top one hundred represents less than one-tenth of one percent of the more than eight thousand entries! Since I don’t typically enter many competitions, this recognition is extra special; plus I only entered one photo! My guess was that this would make a good entry, since the Great Egret is part of the National Audubon Society’s logo. In the past, wading birds were hunted for their beautiful plumes and feathers to make fashionable women’s hats. Many species were brought to the brink of extinction in the late 1800’s here in the United States. But it was the grass roots efforts of two Boston, Massachusetts women, Harriet Hemenway and Minna Hall, that first revolted against the greedy slaughter. Their rejection to such practices, eventually became the start of the National Association of Audubon Societies for the Protection of Wild Birds and Animals, incorporated in 1905. The name was shortened to the National Audubon Society in 1940 and there are nearly five hundred chapters at this time. Special thanks to the judges: Kenn Kaufman (Bird-guide author and Audubon field editor), Melissa Groo (Professional photographer and 2015 Grand Prize winner), Steve Freligh (Co-publisher of Nature's Best Photography), Allen Murabayashi (Chairman and co-founder, PhotoShelter), and Sabine Meyer (Audubon photography director) for selection my work to be included in this prestigious competition.

SEE: THE OTHER 2018 TOP 100 WINNERS