Since before recorded history, groups have come together to build community, share stories, engage in contests, and celebrate their heroes.
The Native Plant Society of Texas holds annual symposiums, and contests are part of their tradition. The COVID pandemic showed us how the virtual community made us larger and more inclusive, so this year we continued to hold our contests over the internet but honored the winners at our awards banquet in Nacogdoches.
We held three contests this year, all involving forms of communication – video, photography, and newsletters. Judges looked at each entry and awarded points using an evaluation form. Scores were added up and the resulting totals determined the winners.
Chapter Newsletter Contest
Collin County narrowly edged out Clear Lake to win the newsletter contest. Editor John Worley submitted the February 2023 edition for the contest. You can download and read the entry here.
The judges commented on the broad range of information that included ancillary but relevant details. Although they would have liked to have seen more articles on plants, it had more than some of the other entries. They also liked the article about the impact of road construction.
In all there were eight entries in the contest, including newsletters from Collin County, Clear Lake, San Antonio, New Braunfels, Houston, Dallas, Fredericksburg, and Tonkawa. Please check out all of them by visiting the chapter websites and searching for the newsletter.
Video Contest
Congratulations to Peter Loos for taking first prize for his walking tour of Watson Native Plant Preserve. Watch above.In all there were eleven videos entered in the contest this year. Watch all of them in this YouTube playlist.
Photo Contest
José Madrigal won Best in Show for his photo of Partridge Pea with American Bee.
The judges also selected a winning photo for each ecoregion in Texas for which there were sufficient entries.
The Judges
This contest could not have been possible without the many volunteer hours of our judges. They are heroes too.
Judges for the newsletter contest were Carol Gaskamp, Kim Norris, Laura Levenson, Mary Beach, Michelle Fissel, Neal Howard, and Vicki Blachman.
Judges for the video contest were Canaan Sutton, Dana Austin, Debbie Bush, Kelley Bruso, Leah Fenley and Sairah Javed.
Judges for the photo contest were Brenda Ladd, Carol Price, Ginny Baresch, Jan Rogers, Joanne Hall, Judy Turner, Julie Bailey, Marty Shows, Michelle Michel, Rebecca Rabon, Robert Benson, and Susan Austin.