LANSING – State Representative Mary Valentine (D-Norton Shores) today announced that there will be three winners, not one, for the "West Michigan Great Lakes Water Photo Contest." She also announced the names of the two guest judges and that the photographs submitted digitally will be used in an online slide show on her Web site.
"I am so pleased to have received so many beautiful photographs of the Great Lakes and other bodies of water surrounding our community," Valentine said. "I had no idea that we had so many talented photographers in the Muskegon area. That's why I decided to choose three winners instead of just one, and I also decided to include the digital images in a slide show on my Web site."
Marguerite Curran-Gawron, of the Muskegon Museum of Art, and Doug Hostettler, a local photographer, both will serve as guest judges for the photo contest. Hostettler and Curran-Gawron will narrow the submissions down to five and Valentine will choose the top three. The winning three submissions will be hung in Valentine's office and the photographers will each receive a State Seal. All submissions must be in by Memorial Day, Monday, May 28.
Contestants can send their best photo of any body of water in the Muskegon area to Valentine's office. Submissions must be 8x10 or 11x14 in size, or digital images of 300 pixels per inch in JPEG format. Submissions can be sent via e-mail to maryvalentine@house.mi.gov or to her Lansing office at P.O. Box 30014, Lansing, MI 48909.
"Michigan's Great Lakes, inland lakes, rivers and streams are part of our culture and our heritage," Valentine said. "As a State Representative, I will continue to work to safeguard our most precious natural resource, our water, for future generations."