Tim Taylor of Mount Arlington, N.J., was selected the winner of the 2018 Louisiana Waterfowl Conservation Stamp competition sponsored by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF). The annual contest picks the artwork that will be used on what is called the Louisiana Duck Stamp.
 
Taylor finished fourth in the Federal Duck Stamp Contest in 2014 and 10th in 2007. He won the 2010-11 California Duck Stamp contest and was second the previous year. Taylor’s entry features a pair of canvasbacks flying in a cloud filled sky.
 
Garrett Jacobs of Orlando, Fla., was the runner-up for the second year in a row, and Tony Bernard, the 2015 and 2008 Louisiana Duck Stamp winner, was third.
 
“This year we received 15 entries, which was down from the recent past but overall the entries were much higher quality,’’ said Larry Reynold’s, the LDWF Waterfowl Program Manager. “The winning entry is an amazing piece of artwork. The detail is amazing. It’s going to make a great stamp because of the contrast between the bird and the background. The judging was as clear as it could be. The winning entry got the top score from all five judges in the first round and was the  unanimous first place choice in the second.’’
 
Judges for this year’s contest included Jeff Gleason, the Gulf of Mexico Bird Conservation Coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service from Lacombe; Barry Wilson, the Coordinator of the Gulf Coast Joint Venture of the North American Waterfowl Management Plan from Lafayette; R.C. Davis, an artist from Amite who won the 1998 Louisiana Duck Stamp Contest, Murrell Butler, a wildlife artist from St. Francisville and the 1988 Artist of the Year for the National Wild Turkey Federation, and Ellis Guilbeau, Louisiana State Chairman for Duck’s Unlimited from Carencro.
 
The Louisiana Waterfowl Conservation Stamp program was established in 1988 by the Louisiana Legislature to generate revenue for conservation and enhancement of state wetlands, benefitting migratory waterfowl overwintering in Louisiana. The program has generated almost $13 million for wetlands conservation in Louisiana since 1989.
 
The 2018 stamp will go on sale June 1, 2018. The artist will retain the original artwork and will have reproduction rights to the image for prints and other commodities after LDWF has used the image to produce the stamps.
 
For more information, contact Larry Reynolds at lreynolds@wlf.la.gov or 225-765-0456.