The Art Contest Judges speak...

The Media Relations Division of NRA General Operations expected the usual landslide of entries for its twenty-first annual NRA Youth Wildlife Art Contest. They were not disappointed.

“Once again, we received entries from all over the nation, from the children of NRA members and from entire art classes looking to experience drawing wildlife and competing in an official contest,” Director of Media Relations Andrea Cerwinske said. “Much of our staff, and especially our intern, Kyle Jillson, has spent many hours entering data and sorting entries.”

Three NRA employees representing different divisions of the association — J.R. Robbins, the competition's founder (now editor of NRAhuntersrights.org); Harry Jaecks, Art Director of NRA Publications; and Meg Guegan, Director of Communications in the Office of Advancement — spent an afternoon serving as judges. They discussed what makes judging the Contest a challenge.

“The hardest thing is being fair. Judging is so subjective that two different judges will likely pick two different sets of winners and offer solid justifications for their decisions,” Jaecks said. “That is especially true when we have, as we did this year, such a large number of fine pieces from which to choose.”

Geugan echoes this sentiment, noting that a winning piece must combine both creativity and “outstanding technical skill.” Entries are judged on anatomical accuracy, color and detail.

“It’s exciting to see kids combining their creative skills and their interest in game animals,” J.R. Robbins said. “Many of these kids hunt, or are learning to hunt, and drawing an animal is a good way to learn game identification — a fundamental skill for any hunter.”

For information on the 2009 Youth Wildlife Art Contest, visit http://www.nrahq.org/YOUTH/wildlife.asp, call (703) 267-1595, or e-mail artcontest@nrahq.org.