For the third year in a row, Rayen Kang, an 18-year-old student at the First Fine Art & Design Studio in Johns Creek, is the winner of the annual Georgia Junior Duck Stamp Art Competition.
Five judges selected Kang’s acrylic rendition of an Emperor Goose as the Georgia Best of Show. She will receive a $175 scholarship from Georgia Power, a long-time sponsor of the Georgia Junior Duck Stamp Program, as well as a certificate and ribbon. As Georgia’s Best of Show, Kang’s original artwork will be sent to compete in the National Junior Duck Stamp Contest April 20 in Bismark, North Dakota.
This year, 477 Junior Duck Stamp entries of 46 different species were submitted statewide from 14 different public and private schools, home schools, and art studios.
A panel of judges selected for their expertise in artistic design, wildlife art, and waterfowl biology decided the winners of this year’s Georgia contest. A total of 100 winners were selected, featuring 25 winners in each of four different age groups: Kindergarten to third grade, fourth to sixth grade, seventh to ninth grade and tenth to twelfth grade, as well as the state’s Best of Show. Three First Place, three Second Place, three Third Place and 16 Honorable Mention winners were chosen in each of the four categories. The Best of Show was selected from among all of the First Place winners.
The complete list of 2018 Georgia Junior Duck Stamp Contest winners, which includes a number of students from Gainesville, is on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service website at https://www.fws.gov/southeast/news/2018/04/2018-georgia-junior-duck-stamp-student-art-competition-winners-chosen/
