Whether they capture a lake surrounded by majestic mountains, ocean waves crashing onto a beach or waterfalls spilling over a cliff, the best photographs tell a story. In rural America, we may not have scenery as dramatic as that, but we appreciate the colorful, artistic beauty of a sunset against a wide-open sky, rolling prairies, calves playing in a pasture and even wildflowers blooming along a ditch.
Those are the kinds of images we would like to see for our 2022 Down Country Roads calendar contest, which is now open. High Plains Journal invites you to share the beauty of rural life through all seasons—whether you’re on a road trip for a much-needed vacation with your family or in your own yard or the pasture out back.
We challenge you to look at your surroundings with a different perspective and show us the art in the rural landscapes around you. Previous calendars have featured farms, crops, livestock and poultry—as well as the people, young and old, who work and play in the heartland.
Use your imagination and show us familiar farm scenes in a new way. Photos of rural art like barn quilts or murals are also encouraged.
For the calendar contest, we are looking for high-resolution digital photos with a landscape (horizontal) orientation, not a portrait (vertical) or square orientation.
Grand Prize and Monthly Feature winners will be selected by a panel of judges at HPJ, but you may vote online for your favorite entry for the Readers Choice award.
• The Grand Prize winner will be featured on the 2022 calendar cover and receive $200, a special award, a 1-year HPJ subscription or extension, and one free 2022 HPJ event registration.
• Monthly feature winners will receive $65, a 1-year HPJ subscription or extension, and one free 2022 HPJ event registration.
• The Reader’s Choice winner will receive a 1-year HPJ subscription or extension.
Visit https://www.hpj.com/calendar_contest to read the complete rules, see last year’s calendar contest winners and upload your 2022 contest submissions. The entry deadline is Aug. 1.
Shauna Rumbaugh can be reached at 620-227-1805 or [email protected].
