Adam Grimm Wins for the 3rd Time; Rebekah Knight is Second
The federal duck stamp contest was held on September 19 and 20, 2024 at the Bruce Museum in Greenwich, Connecticut. The museum was selected to host the annual event after Richard Prager donated his collection of original federal duck stamp art in 2022. This provided the public with an opportunity to enjoy the both the contest and the originals on the same visit.
During the COVID years the contest was held in a controlled environment and streamed live on YouTube links from the USFS website (see Figure 1). This is now becoming a convenient tradition, as those unable to attend in person may still view Day One and Day Two.
Figure 1. Updated contest page from the USFWS website.
Growing Interest Among Wildlife Artists
For 2024, the five eligible species were brant, greater scaup, hooded merganser, northern shoveler and spectacled eider. Notably, there were 239 entries this year – up from 199, 191, 137 and 88 (in descending order) from the previous four years. This is a great sign that shows interest in providing artwork for federal duck stamps is not only alive and well but steadily growing as we emerge form Covid and approach the quarter mark of the 21st century. All of this year’s entries may be viewed on the USFWS Flicker site.
The judges for this year’s event were Jennifer Scully (artist and conservation partner), Tom Melius (retired Migratory Bird Program Director), John Mensik (retired biologist and co-author of Waterfowl of The World), Norma Opgrand (retired Duck Stamp Office Chief) and Ann von Stuelpnagel (Bruce Museum director of exhibitions).
Adam Grimm is Selected the Winner
Of the 239 entries, 15 advanced through to the final round of judging. At this point Grimm’s acrylic painting of of a pair of spectacled eiders was chosen over Rebekah Knight’s hooded merganser. Abraham Hunter took third place.
Now 46, it was the third win for Grimm who calls Wallace, South Dakota home. His artwork will now serve as the basis for the vignette of the 2025-26 Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp (See Figures 2 and 3).
Figure 2. Adam Grimm and his wife Janet, courtesy Watertown Radio.
Figure 3. Adam Grimm’s winning entry featuring a pair of spectacled eiders, courtesy USFWS.
A bit of duck stamp trivia; Grimm’s first win came in 1999 when he was only 21 years old – making him the youngest person to ever win the contest. Grimm has said “That changed my life, I could probably have made more money over the years painting art for some company, but spending time with my wife and kids is pretty worthwhile. I love to paint, and I enjoy the outdoors and hunting.”
Adam is more than a little worried his record may fall next year when his 17 year old daughter, Madison, becomes eligible to enter the federal contest – and for good reason; in 2013 Madison became the youngest artist ever to win the Junior Duck Stamp Contest (see Figure 4).
Figure 4. Madison Grimm wins the Junior Duck Stamp Contest at age 6 with an oil painting of a drake canvasback, courtesy of Cleveland.com.
“I’m a little concerned because she’s pretty good and she’s actually won the Federal Junior Duck Stamp competition three times.” From all I have read about Adam Grimm, if Madison wins he will be one of the proudest fathers ever!
Rebekah Knight Comes Very Close, Again
Rebekah Knight has been knocking on the door for quite a while now. The Deepwater, Missouri artist was first spotlighted on this website in 2016. At that point, like Madison, she had also won the junior duck stamp contest (in 2006 when she was 15).
More to the point, she placed second in the federal duck stamp contest that year to James Hautman (see The Million Dollar Duck to Air on Animal Planet on Wednesday, September 14 at 9 PM EST and James Hautman Wins – Rebekah Nastav-Knight 2nd).
It seems only a matter of time before we will be reporting that talented Rebekah is the actual winner (see Figures 5 and 6).
Figure 5. Rebekah Knight alongside the top three entries in the 2024 Federal Duck Stamp Contest (Google Images).
Figure 6. Rebekah Knights second place painting of a hooded Merganser (Google Images).
Perseverance and ensuing successes by young artists like Madison Grimm and, especially, Rebekah (Nastav) Knight continue to shine a bright light on the junior duck stamp program and for this they are to be applauded. Launched in 1991, the program aims to grow awareness of the importance of preserving wetlands in Americans starting at an early age.
The Bruce Museum Original Duck Stamp Art
Prior to donating his originals to the Bruce Museum in 2022, Richard Prager had painstakingly and steadfastly formed one of the top five collections of waterfowl stamps of all time. In my opinion, the collection surpassed even those of Hall of Famers E.L. Vanderford and Jeannette Rudy.
While Prager’s plans to exhibit his collection at stamp shows never came to pass, some of the crown jewels (over two-thirds of the original duck stamp contest entries extant) may now be seen in person by visiting the Bruce Museum in Greenwich, Connecticut through February of 2025 (see Figures 7 and 8). Those unable to visit the museum may view the originals here.
Figure 7. Conservation Through the Arts, now on exhibit at the Bruce Museum through February. Photo by Patrick Sikes.
Figure 8. Original art for the 1944-45 federal with notes by Walter Weber. Selected by committee prior to the inauguration of the duck stamp contest.
It Takes a Village
While doing research for an upcoming series of posts, I ran across an article in Outdoor Life by Emily Reed (August 16,1921). The article is titled “Is the USFWS Low-Balling the Total Number of Duck Hunters in the U.S.?” Reed then proclaims “There’s been a long standing disparity between duck hunters and the amount of duck stamps sold each year. Something doesn’t add up.’
“From 2011 to 2018, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) sold an average of 1.5 to 1.7 million federal duck stamps a year. But according to its annual harvest reports (HIP), duck hunter numbers have been much lower, fluctuating between 800,000 to 1 million over the last decade or so. That means there are potentially 500,000 to 700,000 more stamps sold each season than there are duck hunters – a staggering number.’
“The USFWS attributes the extra sales to collectors, hunters who buy two or more stamps, passionate birders, outdoor enthusiasts, and vehement supporters of National Wildlife Refuges who value preserving bird habitat across the nation [my emphasis].”
Throughout the long article Reed attempts to make a case for the number of stamps being bought and used by actual hunters being understated. While this may be true, it is clear that non hunters (especially stamp collectors) make up a significant portion of the duck stamp revenue pie.
In fact, I would say that stamp collector support is vitally important going forward. While everyone does not possess both the passion and the wherewithal to make a major contribution to the hobby on the scale of a Jeannette Rudy, Richard Prager or Will and Abby Csaplar – most people can buy a single duck stamp (or maybe a few more) for $25.00 each.
In many parts of the country today $25.00 pays for a burger and fries, a couple of burritos or a pair of movie tickets. This is a very small sacrifice to make to help ensure that waterfowl and the hundreds of other (often unspoken) species that make our National Wildlife Refuge System home survive for future generations to enjoy and experience!
To buy a duck stamp click here.
