The Delaware Waterfowl Stamp Art Contest will take place during the week of August 18, 2025, when judges will be scheduled to review the artwork.

Contest Rules Summary

Here are the basics. Please see the 2025 Stamp Art Contest Artist Agreement and Contest Entry Form for a full set of the rules.

Artwork entries for the contest to be held in 2025 must depict a Northern shoveler in a marsh land habitat typical of Delaware. The background may also include any other related subjects (e.g., duck boats, blinds, dogs, decoys, nest boxes). However, the waterfowl subject must be the focal point of the artwork.

Artists participating in the Waterfowl Stamp Art Contest are limited to one entry.

The “Best in Show” winning artist receives $2,500 cash award and 150 artist proofs of a limited-edition print series.

The artwork selected as “Best in Show” during the 2025 contest will be featured on the Delaware Waterfowl Stamp issued for the July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027 hunting year.

How to Enter

Read the 2025 Stamp Art Contest Artist Agreement and submit one completed and signed Contest Entry Form with each artwork entry postmarked on or before 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on Friday, Aug. 1, 2025.

Eligibility

All U.S. citizens, who are at least 18 years of age by January 1, 2025, are eligible to participate notwithstanding ineligibility criteria.

Any person who has won “Best in Show” in Delaware’s Waterfowl Stamp Art Contest held the preceding year will be ineligible to submit an entry in Delaware’s current year Waterfowl Stamp Art Contest.

Members of the contest judging panel and their immediate relatives are ineligible.

Judging

Entries will be judged on the following criteria:  suitability for reproduction as a stamp; habitat depiction; anatomical accuracy; and artistic composition to include spatial balance, lighting, and harmony of subject and background. Artists are strongly encouraged to apply the judging criteria in the development of their submitted artwork.

The judging panel will include five members from various categories of experience or expertise, such as a representative of Ducks Unlimited, a member of DNREC’s Advisory Council on Wildlife and Freshwater Fish, a hunter, a biologist, a stamp or print collector, or an art instructor.

For a complete set of rules, please see the 2025 Stamp Art Contest Artist Agreement and Contest Entry Form.

Related Topics:  art, contest, education, fish and wildlife, hunting, outreach, stamp, waterfowl, wildlife