Photo Contest 2006

Fire Management Today invites you to submit your best fire-related images to be judged in our annual competition. Winners in each category will receive awards (first place – certificate for camera equipment worth $300 and a 16- by 20-inch framed and matted copy of your photo; second place—an 11- by 14-inch framed and matted copy of your photo; third place—an 8- by 10-inch framed and matted copy of your photo). Winning images will appear in a future issue of Fire Management Today; others could appear as well. All contestants will receive a CD with the images and captions (as submitted) remaining after technical review. The CD will identify the winners bycategory.

Categories

• Wildland fire 

• Aerial resources 

• Wildland-urban interface fire 

• Prescribed fire 

• Ground resources 

• Miscellaneous 

Rules 

• The contest is open to everyone. You can submit an unlimited number of entries taken any place or time. No photos judged in previous FMT contests may be entered.

• You must own the rights to the image and it must not have been previously published.

• We prefer an original slide or negative; however, we’ll accept duplicate slides or high-quality prints (for example, good focus, contrast level, and depth of field). Please note that we’ll be keeping your slide, negative, or print.

• We’ll also accept digital image files if the image was shot at the highest resolution using a camera with at least 2.5 megapixels or if the image is scanned at 300 lines per inch or equivalent with a minimum output size of 5×7. Digital image files should be TIFFs or highest-quality JPGs.

• Please indicate only one competition category per image. To ensure fair evaluation, we reserve the right to change the competition category for your image.

• Provide a detailed caption for each image. For example:
  A Sikorsky S–64 Skycrane delivers retardant on the 1996 Clark Peak Fire, Coronado National Forest, AZ. Photo: name, professional affiliation, town, state, year image captured.

• A panel of judges, with significant photography and publishing experience, determines the winners. Their decision is final.

• Photos will be eliminated from competition if they lack detailed captions, have date stamps, show unsafe firefighting practices (unless that is their express purpose), or are of low technical quality (for example, have soft focus or show camera movement).

• You must complete and sign the attached release statement granting the USDA Forest Service rights to use your image(s). Mail your completed release with your entry or fax it (970-295-6799) at the same time you email digital image files. 

2006 Fire Management Today Photo Contest

Release Statement and ContactInformation

Enclosed is/are _________(number) slide(s)/print(s)/digitalimage(s) for publication by the USDA Forest Service. For each image submitted,the contest category is indicated and a detailed caption is enclosed. I have theauthority to give permission to the Forest Service to publish the enclosedimage(s) and am aware that, if used, it/they will be in the public domain andappear on the World Wide Web.

Contact information:

Name______________________________________________________________________________

Institution affiliation, if any _______________________________________________________________

Home or business address______________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________

Telephone number__________________________ Email address ______________________________

Mailentries to:

USDA Forest Service, Fire Management Today Photo Contest, Karen Mora, 2150 Centre Ave., Building E, Suite 008, Fort Collins, CO 80526,USA

or

Email images andcaptions to:

kmora@fs.fed.us and fax signed release form to 970-295-6799 (attn: Karen Mora)

Postmark Deadline: 3 March 2006

To Print:

FMT Photo Contest Rules: (PDF File)  (MS Word)

Release Statement and Contact Information: (PDF File)  (MS Word)

PastWinners (2003)

First Place, Aerial Resources.  Tanker 22 drops a load of retardant on the Missionary Ridge Fire, Colorado, 2002. Photo by Ben Croft, USDA Forest Service, Missoula Technology and Development Center, Missoula, MT.

First Place, Miscellaneous.  Nearby smoke provides for a great sunrise at the Eyerly fire base camp, Oregon, summer 2002. Photo by Eli Lehmann, USDA Forest Service, Mount Baker Snoqualmie National Forest, WA.

First Place, Prescribed Fire. A backing fire consumes dry vegetation in a prescribed burn unit at Stillwater National Wildlife Refuge, NV, 2002. Photo is by John Wood, U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Klamath Basin National Wildlife Refuge Complex, CA. 

First Place, Wildland Fire. Hayman Fire, June 15, 2002, about 9 PM. View is from a field across from the Rainbow Falls Campground on Route 67, north of Woodland Park, CO. Photo is by Steven Smith, Colorado Springs Fire Department, CO.

First Place, Ground Resources.  Baker River Hotshot crewmembers hold line during a night burnout on the Tiller Complex. Fire from below casts shadows in the smoke. Oregon, summer 2002. Photo by Eli Lehmann, USDA Forest Service, Mount Baker Snoqualmie National Forest, WA.