We have been receiving several inquiries from this year’s participants in the AMPC about whether or not finalists have been chosen. Personally, I can understand the anxious emails and phone calls since being a finalist in the Appalachian Mountain Photography Competition carries a lot of prestige and honor. The competition has grown tremendously since 2004.

The judges reviewed over 1100 images, a record-setting total this year. I wonder if the judges’ eyeballs wanted to go “plop plop” at the end of the day! Below is a table listing the 47 images that make up this year’s final selections. These 47 images were submitted by 37 photographers, so you can see how talented some of the photographers were to be chosen more than once!

7th Annual AMPC Finalists

Please join the AMPC organizers and sponsors in congratulating this year’s finalists of the Appalachian Mountain Photography Competition—all of you deserve lots of applause! Remember, the images for this year’s group are posted in our AMPC archives. This night also marks the opening of the AMPC Exhibition at the Mezzanine Gallery in the Turchin Center on the Appalachian State University campus.

To all of this year’s participants: thank you for your support and participation. Together all of you keep raising the bar.

Part of the excitement for me personally is finding out who this year’s judges are going to be for the Appalachian Mountain Photography Competition. I took a moment to speak with each of them so that we can all get to know them a little better.

Jamie Goodman

Jamie currently serves as Communications Coordinator for Appalachian Voices – and if you’ve been keeping up with this blog, you already know that Appalachian Voices is the sponsor for the category “Our Ecological Footprint.” A perfect sponsorship, if you ask me, and will hopefully bring more awareness to this often overlooked category in the competition.

As the Communications Coordinator, Jamie oversees the organization’s communication efforts, including print and online publications. As with any non-profit organization, however, you can imagine just how many other hats Jamie wears on any given day.

I spoke with Jamie about the upcoming judging process, and how she was feeling about being a judge. She said:

I’m really excited to see all of the submissions this year. We have an amazing amount of talented photographers in the area.

I’ve been following the competition since its beginning, and I’ve noticed the disparity between the submissions for the environment category, and the true purpose of the category. With Appalachian Voice’s involvement, I feel that more attention will be brought to the environmental threats the Appalachian Mountains are currently facing.”

Jamie, I couldn’t agree more!

Troy Tuttle

As the Senior Photographer for Appalachian State University for the last 10 years, Troy has won numerous awards for his photography. His images have even been accepted into the photographic collection of the Smithsonian Museum of American History. Unfortunately, Troy doesn’t have a website to showcase his work, which is a shame really, because I’ve seen it and I gotta tell you guys, it’s amazing. (hey Troy, get a website!)

I asked Troy about what he looks forward to the most as being a judge this year:

I was a judge the first year of the competition, and I’m really impressed by how far the competition has come, from the participation to the increasing quality of the photography.

I’m looking forward to seeing what the community is doing, and how they see the area. I’m not a nature photographer – more of a studio photographer – but I appreciate it a lot. It’s the idea of waiting for that perfect moment.”

Katie Langley

Katie brings a journalistic style of photography to the world, and she has found success in the highly competitive world of portraiture photography. Katie stands out as an artistic wedding photographer, who’s not afraid to bring a special and unique perspective to a person’s special day.

I had a good time laughing with her about how you couldn’t pay me a million dollars to be a wedding photographer. Too much stress and all. She just laughed and said she gets that a lot.

When I asked her about what she looks forward to the most with being a judge this year, she said:

Seeing all the talent. There are so many talented photographers in this area, professional and amateur, and that’s just based on seeing last year’s winners.

I’m really looking forward to seeing all of the creative submissions this year. It’s so interesting to me to see how people can see the same things so differently. As a first time judge, I am anxious to see the High Country and surrounding Appalachian Mountains through the eyes of other artists.”

Every year the quality of the photography increases, so my heart goes out to the judges this year as they take on a very daunting task of narrowing down nearly a thousand entries to a few dozen.

Good luck to everyone this year!

The organizers of the 7th Annual Appalachian Mountain Photography Competition are excited to announce an additional cash prize for the upcoming competition furnished by Appalachian Voices. The winner of this year’s Our Ecological Footprint category will take home $200 and see their image featured in the bi-monthly publication, The Appalachian Voice.

As the newest supporter of the competition, Appalachian Voices has helped to revitalize what has traditionally been one of the most underrepresented categories of the competition. “We hope the images submitted will create for the viewing public a visual connection to the scope of the environmental damage occurring in Appalachia and empower people to become involved,” said Sandra Diaz, Development Director for Appalachian Voices.

Those familiar with the competition will find the Environment category replaced by the new category; Our Ecological Footprint. Photographers, both amateur and professional, are asked to submit images to the category that document environmental injustices and detrimental practices that are damaging the rich eco-systems of the Appalachian Mountains.

“After six successful years of the competition, we can look back and see that we are developing an archive of images that capture the people, places and pursuits that characterize Southern Appalachia. The advocacy of Appalachian Voices on issues important to this region will shape what those images look like in the future and how we understand and define this region,” said Andrew Miller, Competition Director. “That is why we are so excited to have Appalachian Voices as our newest competition supporter, it just makes sense.”

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The Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation has annouced the call for its prestigious 7th Annual Blue Ridge Parkway photography competition with this year’s new theme in the “Blue Ridge Parkway Journey” category — Picnicking on the Blue Ridge Parkway. For the traditional Parkway “Vista” category and the “Share the Journey” category, cash prizes of $200 and $350 are being offered respectively.

The Blue Ridge Parkway categories are part of the 7th Annual Appalachian Mountain Photography Competition, held each year to support Appalachian State University’s Outdoor Programs.
“We wanted to announce the specialty category now, because of the large number of inquisitive calls ‘what will it be this year?’ and to give all those shutter bugs time to collect their photographs during the height of the Parkway season,” stated Mari Jo Turner, the Foundation’s director of development.

2010 is the 75th Anniversary of the Blue Ridge Parkway.

7th Annual AMPC Calendar

• Friday, September 18: Competition opens for registration and submissions
• Friday, January 29, 2010, 5:00 p.m.: Registration and submissions close
• Friday, February 5, 2010: Notification of selected works for exhibition (Due to the large number of submissions, only those with works selected for exhibition will be notified)
• Friday, March 5 – Saturday, June 5, 2010: AMPC Exhibition at the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts in Boone, NC
• Friday March 5, 2010, 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.: Exhibition opening reception and start of People’s Choice Voting Friday
• March 26 at 5 p.m.: People’s Choice Voting closes

Organizers of the Appalachian Mountain Photography Competition today announced the winners of its 6th Annual competition.

This year’s competition saw many “firsts” — the most impressive being an image in the Adventure category for the first time taking Best In Show. Eric Heistand’s Best In Show winner “Splash or Trash” (shown below) was also selected as the People’s Choice Award winner, the first time a single image has received both of these prestigious awards. Congratulations Eric!

The organizers, sponsors, and supporters of the 6th Annual Appalachian Mountain Photography Competition would like to congratulate this year’s winning photographers. Entries to this year’s competition were from across the United States and for the first time included international submissions. Photographers of all levels from novices to professionals are represented among the 47 finalists on exhibition at the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts through June 6, 2009.

Planning for next year started before this year’s competition was wrapped up and we are looking for your feedback to help us continue to grow and innovate. AMPC is funded through the generous contributions of our partners, sponsors and supporters. You can provide needed operational support to AMPC by choosing to make a donation and/or offering us feedback on your user experience. Your input will be crucial in helping us to prioritize our limited resources as we plan upgrades for next year’s competition.

6th Annual AMPC Winners List

Judges were also asked to identify images of distinction and merit to receive Special Mention honors and an additional eight photographers have been recognized.

6th Annual AMPC Winners Gallery

Thank you photographers for submitting to this year’s competition, and for sharing your vision and interpretation of the people, places and pursuits that distinguish Southern Appalachia. In doing so, you have made outstanding contributions in support of Student Outdoor Learning Expeditions at Appalachian State University. We hope to see your submissions in 2010!

For press & media resource information, please visit our press room.

We sent out the call to professional and amateur photographers all over the country to submit their images that depict the Southern Appalachian Mountain region in their own unique way, and the response was truly overwhelming.  This year’s judges reviewed 918 images – no small feat, indeed.

Below we have listed the forty-seven images that have been selected for exhibition at the Mezzanine Gallery of the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts on the campus of Appalachian State University in Boone, NC. You can browse these photos in our AMPC photograph archives.

This year’s category winners are:

A huge round of applause and congratulations for this year’s finalists of the Appalachian Mountain Photography Competition!  People’s Choice Award voting goes live March 6, 2009.  Thanks again to all of you for participating in this year’s competition.  Each year the level of competition is raised, both in quality and quantity of entries.

I can barely wait for next year!

It’s the moment everyone has been waiting for. Trails will be trampled, new roads will be driven, new treasures will be discovered, and dogs will have a chance to pose on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Yep, even dogs will have their day for this year’s competition!

One of the newest features for the 6th Annual AMPC is that the Share the Journey® category will rotate and feature a new theme every year. This year’s theme is Dogs on the Parkway. Stock up on your flea shampoo and practice your brushing skills!

Another important change is that, for the first time in the competition’s history, only digital submissions will be accepted. More importantly, the competition now has its own permanent home in cyberspace at appmtnphotocomp.org.

Still here? What are you waiting for? Get registered already!