By Russ Case
Click image to enlarge This Indian cobra was one of this year’s winners. It’s from the 12 and under category and comes from one of our youngest participants. |
REPTILES magazine held its second amateur art contest, the “Drawn To REPTILES” contest, and we received hundreds of entries. The results were truly spectacular.
Zoo Med sponsored the contest, providing $50 gift certificates to all the winners. There were three age groups, 12 and under, 13 to 17 and 18 and over. The categories were, naturally enough, most of the existing reptile types: amphibians, snakes, turtles/tortoises and lizards (I say “most” because we didn’t have a crocodilian category – sorry to all you gator and croc fans!).
The contest was announced in the March 2009 issue of REPTILES, and soon after the entries began arriving. We gave people a few months to rev up their artistic talents. Judging by the quality of the submissions, there are plenty of artistically inclined reptile enthusiasts out there (at least I presume they’re all enthusiasts). No matter what category or age group, we were astounded at the many terrific submissions we received for all categories.
It’s always difficult to pick winners of contests that are based on creative talent. The editors carefully review all the entries, and we’ve been known to have some lively discussions as to why we think one person should win over another. We take our judging responsibilities seriously, but so far an actual fight has not broken out. Of course, if one of my staff took a swing at me, I might be forced to note that during his or her next performance evaluation.
With the number of categories and the number of age groups of eligible participants, we ended up with 12 winners, so special thanks go to Zoo Med for being the sole sponsor and providing 12 gift certificates. Winners could use the certificates to choose $50 worth of products from Zoo Med’s website at zoomed.com. What reptile fan wouldn’t love a Zoo Med gift certificate?
You can view a bunch of the submissions, including the winners, here. Give them a look and, who knows? Maybe you’ll find the inspiration you need to pick up a pen, crayon, brush, charcoal stick – what have you – and take a shot at creating your own reptile art masterpieces.
