County photo contest winners announced

The 13 winning photos, which will adorn the hallways and offices of the new Jasper County administration building, were announced on March 2 at the board of supervisors meeting.

The contest, which began on Sept. 1, 2021 and ended on Dec. 31, 2021, was a call for amateur and professional photographers alike to send in work they believed best represented the county. There was only one stipulation: all photos had to be taken somewhere within the county’s borders.

The contest judges were a quickly assembled photo committee which was made up of various county employees, including supervisor Brandon Talsma, IT director Ryan Eaton, social media manager Jennifer Cross, network administrator Jason Doland and IT specialist Susan Young.

“Originally, we were discussing that maybe we would have a professional photographer take the photos for the murals,” Eaton said. “Then, Kaylea Marchant, our social media specialist at the time, came the idea to have the photo contest.”

Together, this committee evaluated each submission to determine which entries best encapsulated the county’s natural beauty.

Some of the most popular photo subjects were various parks, recreational areas and conservation locales around the county, including Quarry Springs in Colfax and the Jacob Krumm Nature Preserve.

The committee received 139 unique submissions from 12 different photographers. After several months of debate, the committee narrowed down the entries and chose 13 photos to decorate the new administration building, which is expected to open sometime this summer.

Seven participants will have their winning photos on display, including: Julie Dodds, Linda Frazier, Betsy Hemping, Ron Maggard, Sveta Miller, William Pollak and Warren Terpstra.

“Submissions were really different across the board,” Talsma said. “Some people submitted just one or two pictures while others submitted 30.”

Four of the winning pictures will be blown up and turned into large murals that will decorate sections of the building’s interior.

“We’ve already sent the winning photos off to the printers,” Eaton said. “The murals, which will each be around eight feet tall, will be placed during the final phase of the building’s construction.”

Contact Abby Knipfel at 641-792-3121 ext. 6531 or aknipfel@shawmedia.com