Every year for the past 43 years, Oklahoma has conducted an annual Waterfowl Stamp Design Contest to celebrate great artwork and raise funds for wetland habitat projects across the state. Artists may register online right now for this year's contest. Artwork entries are due by Aug. 31. 

Oklahoma is blessed with a tremendous number of excellent wildlife artists. If you are one (or know one who would like to enter), the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation invites you to get creative with us! 

Any artist from any state is eligible to enter an artwork. The lesser scaup is this year’s selected subject (see photo above). 

The winning artwork will become the design for the 2025-26 Oklahoma Waterfowl Stamp, which is sold to state waterfowl hunters and stamp collectors nationwide. The winning artist will receive a $1,200 purchase prize. 

Since Oklahoma’s waterfowl stamp program began in 1980, about 12,000 acres of habitat has been purchased and many thousands of acres of habitat has been enhanced, restored and maintained for the benefit of waterfowl.

After the entry period closes Aug. 31, public voting will take place online and will figure in the final scoring. An expert panel of judges from the wildlife department will then consider each artwork in terms of anatomical accuracy, artistic composition and suitability for printing before selecting the winner and runners-up.

For complete rules and entry instructions, go to wildlifedepartment.com/hunting/resources/waterfowl/duck-stamp-program. 

^{CONTACT: Don P. Brown, donald.brown@odwc.ok.gov, (405) 312-1684.}