Dakota College Announces High School Photo Contest Results

The Dakota College at Bottineau’s (DCB) photography program recently concluded their annual high school photo contest.

There were a record number of submissions with 214 entries from 5 different states. Photography instructor Clint Saunders commented about the contest saying, “every year I’m blown away by the quality of the images we receive in this contest. We have some seriously talented high school students out there, and we love being able to showcase their work in our annual contest.”

Seven judges had the challenge of choosing the top 25 entries for the exhibit and the three prize winners. The top 25 entries are printed and displayed in Thatcher Hall on the DCB campus from March 6th – May 14th. The top scoring 25 students are

Addyson Hughes, Joyin Akinola, Crystal Bagley, Matt Bosch, Violet Braaflat, Triniti Bruski, Charmaine Haas, Navaeh Christianson, Garrett Cook, Treylan Cope, Joelle Eisele, Zoie Frattin, Tanner Garriott, Jessica Gilbertson, Shane Gunville, Braiden Harnish, Stephanie Hoffarth, Savannah Huffstutler, MicKinzie Koushkouski, Kendra Kuhnhenn, Anna Lamb, Jillian Larson, Kimm Lukenbach, Erin McFadden, Orin Mollerud, Riley Pister, Emma Rehder, Levi Sandford, Faith Schatzke, Tucker Shoneberg, Akanksha Shukla, Glen Siembida, Brett Skeldum, Takara McCorkle, Kyliee Trottier, and Caitlin Wald.

Saunders explained how close the judging is, “due to the high quality and diversity of the photos, the final judging was very close. We use an objective numbering system, see below, to determine the prize winners. As a result of ties, we had over 17 different photographers listed in the top ten.”

With the growth of the annual contest Cannon came on board this year as a sponsor with an impressive first place prize, Canon EOS 70D DSLR camera with EF 16-35 mm f2.8L II Lens. “Leslie, our studio manager, and I joked that we should have entered the contest just for the lens Cannon donated,” Saunders joked.  Here are the top three prize winners.

1st place:    Triniti Bruski, Powell, Wyoming - Canon camera and $500.00 DCB scholarship
2nd place:    Glen Siembida, Minot, ND - $750.00 DCB scholarship
3rd place:    Violet Braaflat, Plaza, ND - $500.00 DCB scholarship
Orin Mollerud, Berthold, ND - $500.00 DCB scholarship

 How the judging works
We use a point system to decide the voting.
•    All of the photos are assigned a number, so the judges do not know any names.
•    Every judge chooses their favorite images independently for rounds 1, 2, and 4.
•    Every time an image is selected by a judge for any of the three rounds, it is awarded one point.
•    The photographers, and the individual photos, are ranked according to their total points.
•    The three photographers with the most points are awarded the prizes.
•    The 25 individual images with the most points are printed for the show.

You can view all of the images and results on the DCB Photography Facebook page or visit the campus. The photos are displayed in the hallways of Thatcher Hall on Dakota College campus. You can email Clint Saunders for more information about the photography program.

Clint.saunders@dakotacollege.edu