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MWA announces 2014 “Picture Wild Montana” photo contest

Over $1,000 in prizes to be won in sixth annual contest highlighting families in Montana's treasured wild places
Category: Community | | 6 min read

Submit Your Photos Now!

HELENA, Mont.—The Montana Wilderness Association is asking shutterbugs of all ages and experience levels to get ready to show the world what they love about Montana's special wild places.

This August, photographers will be able to submit their work and compete for prizes totaling over $1,000 in MWA's sixth annual Picture Wild Montana photo contest. New to the 2014 contest are categories broken into MWA chapter areas. The new format helps to promote MWA regional chapters, specific landscapes of interest, and MWA campaign areas.

 

The theme for the contest, Picture Wild Montana, will have seven categories for contestants to compete: Northwest Montana Region, Western Montana Region, Southwestern Montana Region, North-Central Montana Region, Eastern Montana Region, Central Montana Region, and South-Central Montana Region.

MWA recognizes that wilderness areas are an ideal place to spend time with family and friends. This year we are emphasizing the importance of family (especially children) in the outdoors. We encourage the submission of photos with people interacting with wild places. Wildlife and wildflower photos are also encouraged within each category according to region where photo was taken.

Three prizes will be awarded in each category: one for winner based on judging, one for winner based on popular vote, and one for the winner competing within the kindergarten through eighth grade age group. There will also be three grand prize winners decided in the same way from all photos submitted to the contest, regardless of category.

In addition to prizes, winning photos may also be selected to be published in the MWA 20 15 calendar and/or other various MWA publications such as Wilderness Walks books, annual reports and newsletters.

Photographers can submit their work at wildmontana.org during the two-week open submission period from Aug. 15 – 31, 2014. After the submission period has ended, qualifying photos will be displayed at wildmontana.org, voting will be enabled, and the public will be able to cast their vote for their favorite photos and determine winners by popular vote. This will be a chance for contestants to use social media, like Facebook and Twitter, to rally supporters of their photos to wildmontana.org to vote for their work. Online voting will close at midnight on Sept. 14, 2014. During this same period, qualifying photos will also be judged by a panel of judges who will determine their selections for category and grand prize winners. Winners will be notified the week of Sept. 15, 2014.

For more information about the “Picture Wild Montana” photo contest, visit wildmontana.org/photocontest on Aug. 15th,  or call Amanda Hagerty at (406) 443-7350 ex. 108.

Categories
Northwest Montana Region
Flathead-Kootenai Chapter Area

Northwest Montana is host to the freshwaters of Flathead Lake, the unequaled serenity of Glacier National Park and a host of pine-covered mountains in ranges like the Cabinets and Scotchman Peaks. This area includes the infamous Bob Marshall and Mission Mountain Wildernesses. Home to some of the most intact wildlands on the entire continent Northwest Montana is essential habitat for wildlife in places like the Whitefish Range, Ten Lakes, and Jewel Basin.

Western Montana Region
Shining Mountains Chapter Area

Dominated by the Rocky Mountains Western Montana is a sight to see. Covered in a blanket of pine-covered forests this area creates prime habitat for a variety of wildlife such as a large population of Bighorn Sheep. Western Montana is host to a plethora of outdoor adventures. One can float the middle-fork of the Clearwater River in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness, hike the Great Burn where there is ongoing recovery of the native ecosystem from fires past, or camp in the Swan Front. Western Montana is a place of solitude and beauty.

Southwestern Montana Region
Butte-Big Hole Area

The west is still wild and alive in Southwestern Montana. The untamed wildlands of Southwest Montana lend itself to similar experiences and vistas the earliest explorers and pioneers had while venturing out into this colorful landscape. Time stands still here as one peers out across the basin and range topography of the Pioneer Mountains. The wetlands of Red Rocks Lake National Wildlife Refuge are an ideal home to birds and a variety of mammals. Green-tinted waters of Emerald Lake in the Highland Mountains provide a nice contrast to the red rock of Red Mountain and the views along the Continental Divide Trail on the Montana-Idaho border offer breathtaking views of the two states.

North-Central Montana Region
Island Range Chapter Area
Rocky Mountain Front

A place where the Great Plains of North America collide with the Majestic Rocky Mountains transcending the rolling foothills of the CM Russell Wildlife Refuge into sheer cliffs like the Little Belt Mountains. North-Central Montana is home to the Rocky Mountain Front, spanning a near 100 miles long, and splitting Montana in two. Home to important dinosaur discoveries and the largest migratory elk herd in Montana the Rocky Mountain Front has long been beloved by Montanans for generations. Other areas such as the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument and the Big Snowy Wilderness Study Area encompass an exceptional diversity of Montana’s landscape and wildlife.

Eastern Montana Region
Eastern Wildlands Chapter Area

Eastern Montana ranges from vast unbroken grasslands to island mountain ranges, large buttes and badlands, wetlands and prairie potholes, river valleys and ephemeral creeks. Home to the endangered Black-footed Ferret Eastern Montana creates a perfect sanctuary for wildlife to thrive like the wild horses that roam free across the Pryor Mountains. From caves found deep with the Big Snowy Mountains to the unique rock formations of the Terry Badlands.

Central Montana Region
Wild Divide Chapter Area

Wide-open spaces and mountains come together to create the rugged Central Montana landscape. It is a great place to experience Montana's plains and mountains, recreational and cultural opportunities, pioneer and Indian life and rugged, Western past. Central Montana bridges the gap between mountains and rolling prairies—with orb-stretching big sky in-between. Whether you paddle a canoe down the wild and scenic Gates of the Mountains, hike to the top of the Sleeping Giant, camp along the Continental Divide or watch the magical spring migration of snow geese flocking to the waters of Freezout Lake, this region is full of stunning diversions.

South-Central Montana Region
Madison-Gallatin Chapter Area

Sitting at the northern tip of Yellowstone National Park, South-Central Montana boasts numerous rivers that flow through the heart of the Rocky Mountains and create picturesque sceneries abundant in wildlife and natural beauty. Extending from the park boundaries to the Crazy Mountains South-Central Montana is a place where the Missouri River begins and the experiences to be had are endless. Home to diverse wildlife the Gallatin and Madison Ranges are an integral part of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. One can experience the rich geologic history in Montana by visiting petrified forests within the Gallatin Range or find a variety of outdoor experiences in the Lee Metcalf Wilderness area found in South-Central Montana.

About the Montana Wilderness Association

The Montana Wilderness Association is the state’s leading grassroots wilderness conservation organization. Founded in 1958, MWA works with communities to protect Montana’s wilderness heritage, quiet beauty, and outdoor traditions, now and for future generations. Our vision is for a Montana where, from the rugged mountains to the vast prairies, wild places are protected, connected, and restored, because the citizens of our state value wilderness as essential to our heritage and way of life.

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