After two days of competition, the winner was Adam Grimm of Wallace, SD Federal duck stamp art competition 2024 with an acrylic painting of a pair of spectacled eider. The announcement was made during an in-person event and via live broadcast at the Bruce Museum in Greenwich, Connecticut.
Grimm’s artwork will be featured on the 2025-2026 Federal Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp, a duck stamp that will go on sale in tardy June 2025.
This is Grimm’s third win in the Federal Duck Stamp Art Competition. The service produces the federal Duck Stamp, which generates approximately $40 million in sales each year. These funds support critical conservation efforts to protect wetland habitats in National Wildlife Refuge System for the benefit of wildlife and human enjoyment.
“The Duck Stamp Contest is about enjoying and selecting works of art and appreciating the talents of artists while celebrating this unique conservation program and its legacy of protecting millions of acres of habitat,” said Services Director Martha Williams. “I hope everyone will go out and buy a duck badge, like I did, to be part of a legacy that has been over 90 years in the making.”
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Rebekah Knight of Deepwater, Missouri, took second place for her oil painting of a hooded merganser, and Abraham Hunter of Dandridge, Tennessee, took third place for her oil painting of a pair of hooded mergansers.
Since its establishment in 1934 Federal duck stamp was sold to hunters, bird watchers, outdoor enthusiasts and collectors, raising over $1.3 billion to protect over 6 million acres of bird and other wildlife habitat and provide wildlife-oriented recreation opportunities on public lands.
Waterfowl hunters 16 years of age and older are required to purchase and carry a current federal duck stamp. Many non-hunters, including bird watchers, conservationists, stamp collectors, and others, also purchase the stamp to support habitat conservation.
Additionally, a current federal duck tag can be used for free admission to any national wildlife refuge that charges an entrance fee.
Last week Commission for the Protection of Migratory Birdschaired by Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, approved an amount of over USD 58 million through grants awarded from North American Wetlands Conservation Act and funds from the Migratory Bird Protection Fund.
The fund is composed in part of Duck Stamp dollars to support the acquisition of land from willing sellers for the Refuge System. The recent areas provide the public with additional access to places available for hunting, fishing, bird watching, hiking and other outdoor activities.
The Bruce Museum in Connecticut was chosen as the venue for this year’s competition, in conjunction with the current art exhibition, “Conservation through art: celebrating the federal duck stamp,”, which is the first public presentation of the largest collection of original artwork depicted on federal migratory bird hunting and conservation stamps.
Of the 239 entries evaluated in this year’s competition, 15 made it to the final judging round. Qualifying species for this year’s Federal Duck Stamp Competition were the brant, northern shoveler, greater scaup, spectacled eider and hooded merganser.
Look online gallery from entries to the 2024 Federal Duck Stamp Art Competition.
The judges for this year’s Federal Duck Stamp Contest were: Jennifer Scully, artist and conservation partner of the Maryland National Capital Parks and Planning Commission; Tom Melius, retired deputy director of the Migratory Bird Program; John Gregory Mensik, retired biologist, land manager and co-author of Waterfowl of the World; Norma Opgrand, former head of the Service Duck Stamp office; Anne von Stuelpnagel, Director of Exhibitions, Bruce Museum; and Margie Crisp, artist and author of Duck Walk: A Birder’s Improbable Path to Hunting as Conservation, served as alternate judges.
Federal Duck Stamps can be purchased at many national wildlife refuges, sporting goods stores and other retailers, through the U.S. Postal Service, or on the Internet.
