2024 Missouri Junior Duck Stamp Contest art entries on display at Powder Valley Nature Center through November

KIRKWOOD, Mo.-The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) is exhibiting the 2024 Missouri Junior Duck Stamp Contest winning art entries during the month of November at Powder Valley Conservation Nature Center.

The exhibit includes the contest's Missouri Best of Show winning artwork of a Wood Duck by Vivian Bashar, a senior at Nixa High School. Bashar also finished 11th in the National Junior Duck Stamp Competition out of 56 entries submitted from the 50 States and the U.S. Territories.

The contest categories are divided into four groups based on grade level, K-3rd, 4th-6th, 7th-9th, and 10th-12th. Bashar received a $500 reward as Best of Show winner, while all category first place winners received a $50 gift card donated by Bass Pro Shops. The exhibit showcases all winning entries in each category. Each individual winner gets a ribbon, certificate, and educational materials.

K-12 students compete every year in the free Junior Duck Stamp wildlife art contest as part of the Federal Junior Duck Stamp Conservation and Design Program. This dynamic art- and science-based curriculum teaches wetland and waterfowl conservation to students from kindergarten through high school. Students demonstrate what they have learned about waterfowl and wetland conservation by drawing or painting a native North American duck, goose, or swan. The program is sponsored by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

All state Best of Show winners go on to compete in the national level contest. The national Best of Show artwork provides the design for the Junior Duck Stamp, which the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service sells each year for $5. Proceeds go to promote conservation education in every state, Washington D.C., and the U.S. territories.

The 2024 Missouri Junior Duck Stamp Contest artwork will remain on display in the nature center's exhibit gallery until the end of November.

The deadline for entering the 2025 contest is March 1, 2025. More information about the Junior Duck Stamp contest can be found at http://short.mdc.mo.gov/4zC.

Powder Valley Conservation Nature Center is located at 11715 Cragwold Road in Kirkwood, near the intersection of I-44 and I-270.