Arkansas 4-H members check technical, creative abilities in annual images contest

LITTLE ROCK — Arkansas 4-H members from 53 counties practiced their creativity and submitted entries to the 2026 Ross Photography Contest, with Catelyn Stearman from Washington County bringing house Best in Show.

“Photography is all around us,” stated Kerry Rodtnick, contest coordinator and multimedia specialist for the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture. “It’s so easy to take photos these days, but taking good or even excellent photos takes effort and patience.

“Entering contests like the Ross Photography Contest helps young photographers improve their photography by seeing what others are doing and working to make their own photos better and better,” he stated.

Entries captured scenes of nature, together with landscapes and close-up photographs of crops, together with human and animal topics. 4-H members first submitted their pictures on the county stage, and people winners had been submitted for consideration on the state stage.

“The entries have been improving every year, and this year is no different,” Rodtnick stated. “Our judges remarked on how tough it was to choose this year.”

Rodtnick stated contest judges regarded for pictures that used conventional images methods properly, and so they additionally thought of how laborious the photographer wanted to work to realize the picture.

“They also looked for images that moved them,” Rodtnick stated. “That’s the artistic aspect of photography.”

Stearman’s Best in Show photograph is a black-and-white close-up of a rusted, vintage automobile that has succumbed to nature, with weeds rising by the fender.

“For the Best in Show image, judges were impressed by the composition and the contrast in the image,” Rodtnick stated.

“Her shot definitely tells a story,” one other decide stated.

2026 winners

Color — Living

1. Dream Williamson, Craighead County
2. Zipporah Ziokowski, Boone County
3. Conner Burden, Independence County

Black and White — Living

1. Felicity Witcher, Cross County
2. Evey Wallace, Sebastian County
3. Livia Colvin, Randolph County

Black and White — Nonliving

1. Catelyn Stearman, Washington County
2. Diggs Heath, Garland County
3. Andrew Curry, Carroll County

Color — Nonliving

1. Madison White, White County
2. Everett Hutton, Craighead County
3. Blythe Miller, Van Buren County

Best in Show

• Catelyn Stearman, Washington County

Friendly competitors

All winners obtain financial awards from the Arkadelphia-based Ross Foundation, which was established by the late Jane Ross and her mom, Ester Clark Ross. County winners obtain $10 every, and state-level winners obtain rising prizes for first, second and third locations for every class. State winners are additionally printed on social media, Flickr and the Arkansas 4-H website.

“This contest encourages our 4-H kids to express themselves through photography and try just a little bit harder since they know they’ll be competing against others,” Rodtnick stated. “With a state level contest, these young photographers get to see how they stack up against others across the state.”

The Ross Foundation administers a philanthropic grants program and manages greater than 60,000 acres of timberland, held for conservation functions. Jane Ross served as a photographic technician within the Women’s Army Corps within the Army Air Force and later opened a images studio in Arkadelphia.

Visit the Ross Photography Contest page on the Arkansas 4-H web site to be taught extra.

To find out about extension packages in Arkansas, contact your native Cooperative Extension Service agent or go to uaex.uada.edu. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram. To be taught extra in regards to the Division of Agriculture, go to uada.edu. To be taught extra about ag and meals analysis in Arkansas, go to the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station at aaes.uada.edu.

About the Division of Agriculture

The University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture’s mission is to strengthen agriculture, communities, and households by connecting trusted analysis to the adoption of finest practices. Through the Agricultural Experiment Station and the Cooperative Extension Service, the Division of Agriculture conducts analysis and extension work inside the nation’s historic land grant schooling system.

The Division of Agriculture is considered one of 22 entities inside the University of Arkansas System. It has workplaces in all 75 counties in Arkansas and college on three campuses.

Pursuant to 7 CFR § 15.3, the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture affords all its Extension and Research packages and companies (together with employment) with out regard to race, shade, intercourse, nationwide origin, faith, age, incapacity, marital or veteran standing, genetic data, sexual desire, being pregnant or every other legally protected standing, and is an equal alternative establishment.