Winners of the 2021 members contests were announced during the Annual Awards Presentation on October 9. In addition the annual awards previously announced were formally presented at the event, which was conducted over Zoom and YouTube Live. Watch a video recording of the complete ceremony.
The Kate Hillhouse Chapter of the Year Award is given by the president to the chapter that has best exemplified the mission of the Society in the previous year. This year Kim Conrow presented the award to the Fredericksburg Chapter. The Fredericksburg Chapter will display the award for a year until is awarded again the next year.
Bill Hopkins announced the winners of the various contests, which were determined by a panel of judges using scoresheets to award points in various categories to each contestant.
Photo Contest
The photo contest attracted over 50 entries. Winners were chosen in ten different ecoregions, as shown in the table below. View a slideshow of all the entries here. No awards were given for the Arizona/New Mexico Mountains ecoregion or the High Plains ecoregion. Best of Show was shared by Tom Lebsack of the Austin Chapter for his photo of Longspur Columbine and Robert Kamper of the Williamson County Chapter for his close-up of a Prairie Celestial.
Newsletter Contest
In the chapter newsletter contest the judges selected the Highland Lakes newsletter, edited by Lee Winkler, as the best chapter newsletter.
Judges gave high scores for the clean, wide-format easy-to-read layout and the simple narrow banner. They added that content from a relatively large number of contributors was another plus.
Video Contest
The video contest winner was Pamela Parker Caird of the Williamson County Chapter. Pamela’s outstanding entry, titled Going Wild with Natives in Texas, is jam-packed with information, including an interview with Kelly Simon, author of Texas Wildscapes: Gardening for Wildlife, and information from Pamela’s own experience wildscaping her family’s property in Liberty Hill.
The video contest judges also awarded an Honorable Mention to the entry by Rachel Cywinski of the San Antonio Chapter, citing the originality of the concept.