by Ken Pitts
Vancouver Audubon Society’s (VAS) Youth Nature Photo Contest winners were announced and honored on June 24th at Cascade Park Community Library’s community room. Youths receiving Honorable Mentions (HM) (two in each of four categories) were awarded 18 inch by 12 inch high quality paper prints of their images, as were the “Peoples’ Choice” (PC) who were additionally awarded $100 checks. Places one through three received $200, $100, and $50 checks respectively and gorgeous 18 x 12 HD Aluminum Prints of their photos. Free family memberships to VAS will be awarded to all winners.
This year’s quality of photos was both outstanding and inspiring! 14 judges from Vancouver Audubon’s Steigerwald Photography Group and VAS photographers judged each category completely blind to whose photo they were looking at. They went through round one picking all photos they thought should go to round 2. Then in the 2nd round, they were instructed to find their top 6 photos and rank them, with a #1 ranking worth 6 points and a #6 ranking worth 1 point (like a track meet). Here are the results in the four categories with a total of 109 photos entered:
| SmartPhone Nature | Name | Photo |
| 1st Place | Emmett Caine | Serene Sunset |
| 2nd Place | Shalaka Deshpande | Fall Colors |
| 3rd Place | Daven Caine | Misty Morning |
| 4th (HM) | Thomas Thornburg | Lightning on Android OnePlus |
| 5th (HM) | Thomas Thornburg | Plants |
| PC | Kalee Rasmussen | Warm Autumn Morning |
| Wildlife, Plants & Nature | ||
| 1st Place | John Mendoza | Silent Approach |
| 2nd Place | John Mendoza | Brushstrokes on Water |
| 3rd Place | Ammon Caine | Rascally Raccoon |
| 4th (HM) | John Mendoza | The Quiet Pursuit |
| 5th (HM) | Shaunak Deshpande | We have a Liftoff |
| PC | Mark Megli | Views from Beacon Rock |
| People in Nature | ||
| 1st Place | Shalaka Deshpande | Autumn Ride |
| 2nd Place | Shaunak Deshpande | From the Nature to Urban Jungle |
| 3rd Place | Sofiia Hetman | Blessed Path |
| 4th (HM) | Sofiia Hetman | Golden Moment |
| 5th (HM) | Thomas Thornburg | Friends in Nature |
| PC | Emily Orazio | Be Good and Wait For Me |
| Steigerwald Nature | ||
| 1st Place | John Mendoza | Autumn’s heir |
| 2nd Place | Isaac Lang | Great-Blue Heron Eating a Garter Snake |
| 3rd Place | Isaac Lang | Male American Kestrel Perched on a Branch |
| 4th (HM) | John Mendoza | A Mother’s Touch |
| 5th (HM) | Shaunak Deshpande | Sunrise in HDR |
| PC | Alyxandria Reyes | Love in the clouds |
VAS was proud to partner with HD Aluminum Prints to sponsor this youth nature photography contest with our goal of getting youth outside and observing nature more closely. We will continue our volunteer and financial support of several youth related programs that help them to be more successful in this contest. Cameraderie is a youth wildlife photography group that takes walks with VAS mentor guides and photographers each month. They then follow-up with a Zoom meeting to share photos taken during the walk. The group is led by Shaunak Deshpande, who is the group’s representative to the VAS board. Cameraderie has cameras and lenses available for loan to help participants to see if they like wildlife photography, without requiring large sums of money to be spent. VAS wants to be as inclusive as possible and equipment and support for this program has been coming in quickly. The equipment list will change rapidly.
The other youth related related program VAS sponsors is Young Birders, led by Isaac Lang, who is the group’s representative to the VAS Board. That group has grown rapidly since it restarted in January of this year. This group helps support success in wildlife photography by helping participants identify the species of birds by their calls, songs, characteristics, and behaviors. Understanding the behavior of wildlife helps us to predict where to be with our cameras and lenses. Isaac is also a member of Cameraderie.
The VAS board approved moving forward with the 2027 Youth Nature Photo Contest at their July 28th meeting. We are excited to announce that on July 31st, Backyard Birdshop in Vancouver agreed to partner with VAS and HD Aluminum Prints to fund the contest for next year.
Photos taken from June 1, 2026 to May 31, 2027 in Clark, Skamania, and Klickitat counties will be eligible for entry. Next year’s categories will be changed so younger aged participants (8-12 yrs) have their own two categories (Birds of the PNW, and PNW Nature), and ages 13-18 yrs will have those same two categories. Keep an eye on our Vancouver Audubon website to see updates on the contest rules.