Submitted Photo “The Great Flight” was selected as the Best of Show winner in this year’s North Dakota Junior Duck Stamp Contest.

DEVILS LAKE – He did it again! 16-year-old Daniel Schumacher of Linton has his acrylic painting chosen as the Best of Show in this year’s North Dakota Junior Duck Stamp competition. It is the second straight year Schumacher has claimed Best of Show in the statewide competition.

This year there were 1,075 students in grades K-12 who participated in the Junior Duck Stamp program, an art and science-based curriculum that teaches wetland and waterfowl conservation.

Schumacher titled his impressive work “The Great Flight.” This year was the sixth time Schumacher has entered the Junior Duck Stamp competition which, he says, he will continue to enter through his high school years.

Runner-up to Schumacher was 17-year-old Sydney Nelson of Valley City with a colored pencil and acrylic paint entry of a drake Green-winged teal on the water. First-, second- and third-place winners and their families will be recognized May 4 at an awards ceremony held at the Heritage Center and Museum in Bismarck.

Area place winners included Archer Ackerson, Sherwood, first place grade K-3 and Makenna Gates, Mohall, third place grade K-3. Honorable mentions went to Sitota Asmamaw, Minot; Ava Keysor, Kenmare; and Sheridan Lakefield, Mohall, all K-3. Leah Heth, Antler, grades 4-6, Elizabeth Moldenhauer, Kenmare, grades 7-9, and Cheri Esquibel, Garrison, grades 10-12.