The details have been finalized, and the entry period for the 13th annual Mingo Swamp Friends Flora and Fauna Photo Contest has opened.
Sponsored by the Mingo Swamp Friends, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service/Mingo National Wildlife Refuge and a host of Southeast Missouri businesses, the contest is held each year to promote the unique diversity of animal and plant life on the refuge and the activities people enjoy there.
This year's contest features two division, youth (age 17 and under) and adults, with four categories in each division.
Categories include Mingo Landscape, People in Nature, Native Wildlife and Native Plant.
Those entered in the People in Nature or Mingo Landscape categories must be taken on the refuge.
All entries should be 8X10-inch prints, though a digital file also must be submitted.
The cost to enter the contest is $5 per photograph, with no limit on how many you may submit. Entry forms are available at the refuge visitor center during normal business hours or on the Swamp Friends website, www.mingoswampfriends.org.
All entries must be received at the refuge visitor center by 4 p.m. on Aug. 1. If you have questions about the contest, call the visitor center at 573-222-3589 or email a Swamp Friends representative at mingoswampfriends@gmail.com.
Winning photographs will be announced in September, and they will be included in a traveling display around the state for a one-year period.