Thank you to all those who submitted photographs for the 2005 My Favorite Wilderness Photo Contest. We received some truly outstanding images, and were very pleased with the level of response.

Images were judged by freelance photographer Jamie Steeves, and Shirley Robb, photographer with Communications Nova Scotia. The judges decided not to name a winner in the wilderness recreation category, as they felt that the very few qualifying submissions in that category did not adequately portray the wilderness recreation theme.

The contest was meant to be limited to images taken within one of Nova Scotia's 33 designated provincial wilderness areas. However, due to the large number of excellent submissions of photographs made outside designated wilderness areas, the judges selected five honourable mentions from among images taken in provincial and national parks in Nova Scotia.

The 2005 contest results are as follows

Overall Winner
"Stand" Terence Bay Wilderness Area by Joseph Howse Prize: Mounted wilderness area poster and a guided one-day photo expedition with protected areas coordinator, photographer, and naturalist Oliver Maass.

Wild Nature Category Winner
"Forest Floor" Tobeatic Wilderness Area by Phil Talbot Prize: Mounted wilderness area poster.

Wild Nature Category Runner-Up
"Cliff Waters Sunset" Polletts Cove-Aspy Fault Wilderness Area by Nicole Johannsen Prize: Set of unmounted wilderness area posters.

These honourable mentions are as follows, in order from highest to lowest rank. Each honourable mention winner will receive an unmounted set of wilderness area posters.

Other Parks and Protected Areas
"Blomidon Park" Aerial image of Blomidon Provincial Park by Christopher Ball
"Withrod Lake" Winter image at Long Lake Provincial Park by David Hayes
"White-tailed Deer" Shubenacadie Wildlife Park by Sherri Ashton
"Beach 1" Surf at Martinique Beach Provincial Park by Jennifer Rector
"Beach 7" Sand dollar at Martinique Beach Provincial Park by Jennifer Rector

Due to the success of this year's photo contest, plans are in place to make this an annual event. Congratulations to all the winners!

Find more photos in our photo gallery.