When voting for the 2018 Friends of Scotchman Peaks Wilderness photo contest closed on Nov. 23, Kim Holzer’s photo, “Likin’ the Lichen,” was picked as the grand prize winner. First-place honors went to “Fall on Trail # 65” submitted by Valerie Fink, second-place went to “Cute Kid” by Alex Jones., and third-place honors went to Jamilee Scheiwe’s “South Fork Falls.”

The 37 entries to the 2018 contest were judged by a highly qualified panel — Facebook friends of Scotchman Peaks — who voted with their “likes” on pictures posted in a special Facebook album. Fink, Jones and Scheiwe were awarded a swag package from FSPW including a hat, bandana and T-shirt. Holzer’s best-of-show shot will be professionally framed by Ward Tolbom of Hen’s Tooth Studios in Sandpoint. Tolbpm is an expert framer, as well as a renowned water color artists, fisherman and huckleberry picker.

The FSPW photo contest runs annually from Nov. 1 until Halloween, so it is already open for submissions to the 2019 iteration. Photographers can post to Instagram @ instagram.com/ friendsofscotchmanpeaks/ and tag it #2019fspwphotocontest, post it on the Scotchman Peaks Facebook page and tag it #2019FSPWPhotoContest, or do it the old-fashioned way and email it to sandy@scotchmanpeaks.org. Please include a description of where you took it, when you took it, and maybe even why you took it. High-resolution (2-megabyte or higher in jpeg format) are preferred. Pictures should have been taken within the wilderness or of the wilderness from outside (pictures taken within the wilderness are preferred.)

An individual can submit up to six photos, of which FSPW staff will choose what they consider the best from each submitter. They will then put those chosen up in a Facebook album after the contest closes on Halloween, 2019.

“We got a nice mixture of photos this year of people, scenics and wildlife — mostly goats, of course,” said FSPW program coordinator Sandy Compton, “I would love to see more backcountry photos next year. And, I want to remind folks to keep their distance from any animal they are photographing. The goat pictures, in particular, should be obviously taken from an appropriate distance (100 feet or more). Sometimes, it’s hard to tell if a telephoto lens was used for a shot, so if you got a really nice closeup with a long lens, please let us know the particulars of the shot.”

All of the entries in the 2018 photo contest can be viewed at bit.ly/2018FSPWPhotoAlbum