Grasslands – Grazing Photography Contest

Grasslands and Grazing Photography ContestDownload

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Agricultural photography can convey stories about farming, natural resources, and the day-to-day lives of farmers. No matter your skills, consider participating in this photography contest to showcase your work and tell the story of local, grass-based agriculture. Farmers have the inside story, so producers themselves are encouraged to join in! 

This contest focuses on grazing lands and prairies in Grays Harbor, Lewis, Mason, Pacific, and Thurston Counties, and is timed to generate artistic content for the 2026 United Nations “International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists”. All submissions are eligible for public arts exhibits.  

Timing

The contest will run from May 1st through November 15th, 2025. 

Contest Details

  • Submit individual images, a photographic series, or some combination of up to five photos.
  • All submissions must be printed, mounted on foam core (strongly encouraged but optional), and delivered to the WSU Thurston County Extension office (see below for instructions) 
  • Digital copies of images need to be uploaded along with the entry form at the link HERE(https://wsu.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_7257kTVeFz3pCnk)

Purpose

  • Education through art
  • Increase awareness of farming and farmers in the region, and support farm viability and sustainable agriculture
  • Inspire action and support of farming communities and landscapes

Judging

  • Reviewed by a panel of three judges in person (location TBD in Thurston County)
  • This will be a public event
  • Refreshments, review of entries, and comments by local ranchers and conservation workers

Prizes: A cash prize of $75 will be awarded to the winner in each category. Ribbons will be awarded to the top three places in each category, in addition to a people’s choice award.

ENTRY INSTRUCTIONS

• Delivering prints in advance. During the period from May 1 through November 14, print entries may be delivered during business hours to WSU Thurston County Extension, 3054 Carpenter Rd SE, Lacey, WA 98503. No entries will be accepted after 5:00 pm on Nov 14. 

• Print protection and identity. For protection of your prints and to keep your images grouped with the entry form, place them in a bag or package of some kind. Prints must be accompanied by a sheet of paper with name, print numbers, and titles that match the online entry form.

• Judging. Prints will be judged on Saturday, December 13, beginning at 10 a.m. either in Heritage Hall at the Thurston County Fairgrounds or the Ag Park in Tenino, WA (TBD). Exhibitors are encouraged to attend the judging, all community members welcome. Refreshments and comments by local farmers.

• Print handling. WSU Thurston County Extension and The Olympia Camera Club will exercise all possible care in the handling and processing of prints for this exhibition. They are not responsible for loss or damage while the prints are in their custody. 

• Picking up your prints. Following the December 13th judging event, selection of photographs for 2026 exhibits will be completed by January 15th. Participants willing to allow their images to be displayed will be notified by that time. Photographers of prints not selected for exhibits will be notified by January 15th. Contest winners and prints selected for exhibits are not necessarily the same. Prints may be picked up at the WSU Extension Office between January 20th and January 29th, 2026 (Tu-Fri 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m). Entries will not be mailed to exhibitors. Entries not picked up by January 29th will be left in the WSU Thurston County Extension Office. 

• The exhibitor of the print must be the original maker of the image. The use of AI software shall be limited to minor repairs, noise reduction, sharpening, etc. The use of AI to generate significant content is not allowed. 

• The image may have been made in any type of camera, including camera phones. Images may be computer enhanced. 

• A print entry must be at least 8” x 10” and up to 16” x 24” in size (including mat, if applicable). Odd-size entries are acceptable, so long as the shortest side is no more than 16” and the longest side is no larger than 24”. Panorama images are an exception to this rule but may not exceed a 12” x 36” measurement. Square prints can be submitted up to 18” x 18”. Minimum dimensions: at least 1200px on the shortest side.

Mounting and Delivering photographs

The WSU Thurston County Extension Office is located at 3054 Carpenter Rd SE, Lacey, WA, 98503. The office is open to take in photographs from 8am to 5pm Tuesday-Friday. Images can be commercially mounted or photographers can access a tutorial developed by Olympia Camera Club to learn how to mount on foam core themselves. If you are unable to mount your photographs please submit unmounted prints. 

Categories

  1. Wildlife (or more broadly ecosystem services) in prairies/grasslands
  2. Rural livelihood from grasslands and grazing (including sustainable livestock products linking sustenance to land)
  3. Traditional knowledge (indigenous or Euro-American) and culture connected to grasslands
  4. Pastoralist/rancher/grazer women and youth
  5. Grassland loss
  6. Global grasslands and pastoralists

Rights in Use

Use of images submitted to this contest will be limited to the following educational uses unless agreed upon in writing by both parties. Images will be used to create displays to promote the “International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists” (IYRP). For this contest, Rights in Use applies to: 

  1. Physical exhibits held in Grays Harbor, Mason, Lewis, Pacific, and Thurston Counties
  2. Use in regional and national physical exhibits in public spaces, potentially including but not limited to libraries, malls, airports, and city halls
  3. On promotional educational websites directly associated with the IYRP noted below. 
    1. IYRP webpages
    1. Western Region SARE Arts-Based Education Team Webpage: https://extension.wsu.edu/thurston/arts-grasslands-rangelands/
    1. Society for Range Management

If you would like to restrict Rights in Use in some way, format, or geographic scale, please contact us to make accommodations.

File Storage

Digital files used for exhibits in the Washington counties noted above will be stored in a WSU-managed, password-protected Dropbox account accessible only to the contest organizer (WSU Extension, Thurston County). Files allowed regional or national exhibits will be stored in a password-protected library archive at the University of Arizona in their Rangelands Gateway database. Access to this database is restricted to website editors. 

Termination

Photographers can terminate rights in use at any time. 

Attribution

All works will be attributed to the photographer in a manner that meets the photographer’s specifications for adequate acknowledgement and fits in a suitable manner such as not to distract from the exhibit. 

Additional Uses

No rights in use beyond those described here (including any manner of file or print sharing) is allowable unless confirmed in writing between the contest organizer (WSU Extension, Thurston County) and the photographer. No use outside those identified here for commercial application or otherwise are allowable. Please direct questions to: . 

Acknowledgements. This project is made possible with collaboration among the following organizations, and with funding from the USDA Western SARE Program.