Ozark teenager places 25th in Junior Duck Stamp Art Contest, out of 15,000 contestants
In her second year entering the Junior Duck Stamp Conservation and Design Program and Art Contest, an Ozark teenager placed first in the state and 25th at the national level.
Aliyah Ridenour, 14, won Missouri's Best of Show in the Junior Duck Stamp Art Contest with her oil painting of a cinnamon teal, a duck species found in North and South America. As the Best of Show winner for the state, her painting moved on to be judged nationally, alongside 62 other Best of Show paintings from across the country. In total, 15,000 entries by young artists were submitted to the contest, according to a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service news release.
Last year, Ridenour placed first in Missouri's grade 7-9 age division with her oil painting of a ruddy duck.
"Last year was my first time painting and taking it seriously, and I wanted to try it out again to see if I really enjoy painting and I do," Ridenour said. "I just loved the overall experience from last year and I thought it would be really fun to try it out again and see if I could place higher."
As the Best of Show recipient in Missouri, Ridenour will receive a $500 gift card to Bass Pro Shops at the Missouri Junior Duck Stamp Award Ceremony this weekend.
Ridenour said she was hanging out in her bedroom when her dad came in with the news.
"He was like, 'You placed 25th in the whole nation,' and I was like, 'Oh my gosh, that's amazing.' It's just insane," Ridenour said.
Celebrating its 31st year, the Junior Duck Stamp Conservation and Design Program and Art Contest is open to students kindergarten through 12th grade. The program combines art and science to educate youth about waterfowl conservation. For the art contest portion of the program, students create a painting of a duck, goose or swan in its natural habitat.
The first place painting, created by Linyue Mila Tong, 15, of Virginia, will be printed on the 2023-2045 Junior Duck Stamp. The collectable stamp is available for $5.
The process for Ridenour started back in September 2022 when she was tasked with choosing which waterfowl she would paint. Ridenour said she chose the cinnamon teal because of its vibrant colors.
For the bulk of six months, Ridenour worked with art instructor Greg Chappell in his Nixa home each Thursday. Chappell is an art instructor who specializes in Renaissance-style art and the wet on dry painting method, a technique of layering paint on top of the paper. Chappell has helped students enter the Junior Duck Stamp Art Contest for nearly 20 years. He said he's had two or three students receive Best of State and one student receive second place nationally.
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Before painting, Ridenour used the grid method to create an initial sketch. This method involves drawing a grid over a reference photo and a grid of equal ratio on the final canvas. Once her grid and sketch were complete, Ridenour could start painting.
"Watching last year's competition, I knew she had a good shot at Best of Show, if she applied herself," Chappell said, adding that he enjoyed working with Ridenour because of her patience and adaptability.
Ridenour said she loosely based her painting on a photograph of a cinnamon teal she found online, but added her own touches, like the addition of the marsh-like background, to make it "more alive." Ridenour completed her painting in April, before submitting it to the contest.
"The whole process was definitely a long, tedious process and there were times I kind of wanted to give up because it just took so long and it was hard to stay still sometimes working hours on my painting," Ridenour said. "But I pushed through and I'm so glad that I finished it because I just look at the results and I'm so happy with it."
Big Muddy National Wildlife Refuge Park Ranger Tim Haller, who oversees Missouri's Junior Duck Stamp Art Contest, said 86 Missouri students submitted paintings this year. To help judge the state's entries, Haller acquired two previous Missouri Junior Duck Stamp Art Contest entrants who placed at both the state and national level. A retired Columbia Police Department forensic artist and retired University of Missouri artist also helped judge this year.
State-level Best of Show paintings were judged by five individuals at the national level on April 26.
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Where can you see Aliyah's painting in Missouri?
Ridenour and her painting will be recognized at the Missouri Junior Duck Stamp Award Ceremony on Saturday at the Anheuser-Busch Natural Resources Building in Columbia. Open to the public, the ceremony is in the Conservation Auditorium from 2-3 p.m.
Following the award ceremony, Ridenour's painting will tour the state at various nature centers:
May through June: Harry S. Truman State Office Building in Jefferson City
July: Springfield Conservation Nature Center
August: Bass Pro Shops in Springfield
September: Burr Oak Woods Conversation Area in Blue Springs
October: Anita B. Gorman Conservation Discovery Center in Kansas City
November: Powder Valley Conservation Nature Center in Kirkwood
December: Cape Girardeau Conservation Nature Center
January-February 2024: Lake Ozark Area Libraries
The Junior Duck Stamp Conservation and Design Program and Art Contest is an extension of the Federal Duck Stamp program. Similar to the Junior Duck Stamp Art Contest, the image for the annual Federal Duck Stamp is selected from an art contest for those 18 and up.
Federal Duck Stamps are conservation revenue stamps, meaning that 98% of the proceeds go directly toward helping preserve wildlife for waterfowls across the country. Since 1934, over $1 billion has been raised through the sale of the Federal Duck Stamp, according to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.
This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Ozark teen places 25th out of 15,000 in Junior Duck Stamp Art Contest
