Youth Contests
Photo Contest Entry Form
ADGA Youth Photo Contest Rules and Entry Forms are posted on the ADGA Annual Convention website under the “Youth” menu: https://convention.adga.org/youth-photo-contest
Essay Contest Entry Form
ADGA Youth Essay Contest Rules and Entry Forms are posted on the ADGA Annual Convention website under the “Youth” menu: https://convention.adga.org/youth-essay-contest
ESSAY CONTEST FROM PRIOR YEARS
- 2018 Judge’s Bio and Winners
- 2017 Judge’s Bio and Winners
PHOTO CONTEST FROM PRIOR YEARS
- 2018 Judge’s Bio, Entries, and Winners
- 2017 Judge’s Bio, Entries, and Winners
- 2016 Judge’s Bio, Entries, and Winners
- 2015 Judge’s Bio, Entries, and Winners
- 2014 Judge’s Bio, Entries, and Winners
2018 Youth Essay Contest: Judge and Winners
Topic: Life Lessons Learned from my Dairy Goat Project
The 2018 ADGA Essay Contest judge this year was Tamara Taylor. Ms Taylor has been involved with dairy goats since 1972 and eventually became a commercial dairy making mozzarella cheese in Dallas, TX. She is an ADGA licensed senior judge and was involved with her sons in 4H as a parent and then a leader. She has recently been instrumental in getting youth involved in showmanship and the dairy goat shows in Mexico. Ms Taylor has been a teacher for many years working in English as a Second Language for nearly 40 years — 30 at the University of North Texas specializing in Advanced Writing and Grammar.
Essay Contest Winner – Junior – ages 10 and under
Essay Contest Winner – Intermediate I – ages 11-13 yrs
Essay Contest Winner – Intermediate II – age 14-16 yrs
Essay Contest Winner – Senior – age 17-20 yrs
2017 Youth Essay Contest: Judge and Winners
Topic: The Magic of Mentors
The 2017 ADGA Essay Contest judge this year was Tamara Taylor. Ms Taylor has been involved with dairy goats since 1972 and eventually became a commercial dairy making mozzarella cheese in Dallas, TX. She is an ADGA licensed senior judge and was involved with her sons in 4H as a parent and then a leader. She has recently been instrumental in getting youth involved in showmanship and the dairy goat shows in Mexico. Ms Taylor has been a teacher for many years working in English as a Second Language for nearly 40 years — 30 at the University of North Texas specializing in Advanced Writing and Grammar.
Essay Contest Winner – age 9-11 yrs
Gavan Cournoyer
The Magic of Mentors
Poof! There’s my mentor. She has been teaching me for years and has showed me great tips about dairy goats. Poof! Poof! Poof! There’s another and another and another! They’ve all taught me over the past two years about goats and my market lambs in our 4-h club. My mentors are named Kim, Caedran, Bev and Kayla and they have helped me do better when I show my animals. My mentors are magic because they help me learn, share their time and I know they care about me.
They help me learn by teaching me the things that they already know. They also learn new things all the time to teach me. My mentors show me how to do things that I have trouble doing, like getting my goat to stay set up. They are patient when they teach me. My mentors notice when I have something big, like a vet visit with one of my animals, and they ask me to do a presentation for our club about it. That is a way that I learn and can teach other people at the same time.
They share their time by having us practice with them. They also take time to make the lessons that they teach us. My mentors find time to help me and the other kids in our club. They take time to have treats or lunch for us when we meet. My mentors are most of the time ringside when I am showing my animals. They remind me of tips and to look at the judge when I go show my animals. They make time to be at the shows and fairs to support me and our club.
My mentors are magic because they care about me and the rest of the kids in our club. They care because they believe in me and know that I can do better. When they share their time to help me, it lets me know that they care. They care by having the materials that we need to study from and learn from. They also care because they sometimes help us get our animals to shows if we need it. My mentors also help us so much when our animals get sick.
All of the support that I get from my mentors inspires me to try to do better and I think it helps me learn better than on my own. When they congratulate me after I showed my animals in a show, it makes me feel good.
In conclusion, the magic of my mentors is really love and caring. They teach new things to me and they also spend their time with me. They care about me because they are looking out for me. Its magic because these things sound easy and little but they have helped me do a lot better and learn so much more. I am super grateful for all the mentors that I have had throughout my life. Because of them, I know that I am always growing and learning more.
Essay Contest Winner – age 12-14 yrs
Madeline Evans
Mentors in My Life
Mentors Have Shaped Who I Am
I wouldn’t be where I am today without some amazing mentors by my side. I have grown substantially in the past five years that I have been in 4-H, and none of it would’ve been possible without them. In the following paragraphs, I hope that you will discover just how much they have impacted me, not only in 4-H and the dairy goat world, but also through sports.
My family began raising Alpine dairy goats when I was 6 years old. The first real show where I exhibited was the California State Fair in 2011. I talked to so many people who were interested in my little doe kid, and that is one of the things that really sparked my passion for the animals. I loved teaching the public about them. The mentor who really stands out to me most is my mother, who is the one who first introduced me to dairy goats. She has stuck by me since the very beginning and has taught me so much. I have been humbled by my losses in the show ring, but when I or my animals place well, it makes all the early mornings to milk and feed them worth it. I have tried to breed up my does conformation over the past five years I’ve been in 4-H, and I believe that my does have progressively gotten better. Not only that, but I’ve improved so much since then. This year at the State Fair, I won junior dairy master showmanship. I had never handled dairy cattle before, so we found another 4-Her who was willing to teach me. Without that girl’s help, I wouldn’t have won, which shows that mentors can be found in the most unlikely places. My 4-H dairy goat leader, Courtney Gunn, has taught me a lot and given me great encouragement. She holds a place as a trusted leader and mentor in my life. I know I can ask her any question about dairy goats, and she is there with an answer. Courtney is great at helping me look over my goats to identify its strengths and weaknesses.
I have been in the 4-H rabbit project the past three years as well. My leaders, Tawnya and Steve Hiscock, have helped me grow in my showmanship ability as well as how to lead other members of our club in various activities. If it weren’t for them, I wouldn’t be a member of the 2017-2018 Shasta County 4-H All Star Support Team. Because of these mentors, I am more confident when talking about the species, and teaching others about it too.
I was first exposed to volleyball in fourth grade, but I really started playing and trying to get better in this last year. My coach, Meghan Edwardson, has really impacted me since I started playing on her team. She has taught me so much through the last club volleyball season and I am excited for her to teach me more in the coming year. She is one of those people who is very encouraging, but is quick to notice what you are struggling with and works to help you improve it.
In conclusion, I wouldn’t have accomplished what I’ve accomplished or experienced what I’ve experienced if it weren’t for the people who have taught me what I needed to know and stuck by me. I will never forget these people, these mentors, who have helped me grow as a showman, an athlete, and most of all, a person.
Essay Contest Winner – age 15-18 yrs
Caedran Schafer
The Magic of Mentors
As a young person I have been told repeatedly to choose my peers wisely. I always assumed that this was only true for the friends you surrounded yourself with. Recently however, I have realized that this is also true for your mentors, teachers, and leaders. I have had multiple incredibly influential and beneficial mentors in my life in recent years through school, 4-H, and family.
One of the most influential people in my life came to me through a high school class. Mrs. Hansen has taught me to always be kind, to stand up for myself and what I believe in, and to love myself. The best part about these lessons, were that she not only taught them to me, but she taught them to me through the way she treated others and through the way she encouraged me and fellow students. She has taught me things that are invaluable for a teenage girl but, she taught them to me in a way that showed me how to implement the ideas into my everyday life and in a way that I could one day mentor someone else who needs to learn the same things I did.
4-H has given me multiple leaders who have turned into some of my closest mentors. The difference between a leader and a mentor is that while you are assigned to a leader, you pick your mentors. I have received two amazing mentors through 4-H who helped show me that just because I am a woman does not, by any means, mean that I need a man to do the heavy lifting or to make my decisions for me. They have also shown me how to prioritize my time and how to take care of myself throughout the messiness of life. They have been there for me physically and emotionally through some of the hardest times in my life and for that, I will be forever grateful. Its leaders like them that I know will always be there for me through life.
While your family may seem obligated to mentor and raise you, it is up to you to listen to them and to take their lessons to heart. Growing up, my sisters were more like mothers to me, they are now the two strongest women I know and I aspire to be like them every day. Though they teased and made fun of me as older sisters do, they also taught me to be strong and independent and showed me that no matter what life throws at you, you can overcome it and become stronger because of it. It is life lessons like these that can be the hardest and most painful to learn, but they are also the ones that help you the most in life.
Although places like school, 4-H, and your family may not seem like the best places to learn life lessons, they have provided me with mentors that have changed my life forever. The magic of mentors is that they are not just given to you; you must find them and you must earn them. Choosing a great mentor is not an easy task but when one is chosen, they will change your life for the better. My mentors have taught me to be kind, to believe in myself, to love myself, to be strong, to prioritize, and to be independent. Without the life lessons that they have taught me, I would not be the successful young adult that I am now.
2018 YOUTH PHOTO CONTEST JUDGE, ENTRIES, & WINNERS
Theme: Kids do the Darnedest Things
20178 ADGA Youth Photo Contest Judge was Bryanna Strong of Canby, OR.
2018 ADGA Youth Photo Contest Entries
The photos below are those that met the criteria for the 2018 Youth ADGA Photo Contest
and competed for cash prizes.
Junior Division Entries and Winners
Other Junior entries:
Intermediate I Division Entries and Winners
Other Intermediate I entries:
Intermediate II Division Entries and Winners
Senior Division Entries and Winners
2017 YOUTH PHOTO CONTEST JUDGE, ENTRIES, & WINNERS
Theme: Kids at Play
2017 ADGA Youth Photo Contest Judge was David Bice. David is a marketing representative fore Redwood Hill Farm Dairy and Creamery and is responsible for all of their photographic promotions. He was very happy to judge this years entries.
2017 ADGA Youth Photo Contest Entries
The photos below are those that met the criteria for the 2017 Youth ADGA Photo Contest
and competed for cash prizes.
Junior Division Entries and Winners
Other entries in random order:
Intermediate II Division Entries and Winners
Photo taken by Danielle Miller
Intermediate I Division Entries and Winners
Other entries in random order:
Photo taken by Bethany Murphree
Senior Division Entries and Winners
Photo taken by Caedran Schafer
Photo taken by Elizabeth Gajdosik
2016 YOUTH PHOTO CONTEST JUDGE, ENTRIES, & WINNERS
Theme: Kids at Play
2016 ADGA Youth Photo Contest Judge is Brent Dietrich. Brent is a professional photographer and owner of Live View Studios. Live View Studios a fine art film wedding photography studio based in North Carolina, specializing in refined, romantic weddings.
Available for travel all through the United States and beyond. They believe in creating honest and timeless images that have heirloom value and leave behind a legacy of a life well lived.
Brent has a passion for both storytelling and adventuring. When he’s not capturing love stories through his lens, you can find him exploring with his family (wife Anna and daughter Charlotte), either in the mountains or while digging their toes in the sand, searching out eclectic diners, and enjoying family living at home in the southeastern United States.
2016 ADGA Youth Photo Contest Entries
The photos below are those that met the criteria for the 2016 Youth ADGA Photo Contest
and competed for cash prizes.
Junior Division Entries and Winners
Photo taken by Brooklyn Foos (Jr)
Intermediate II Division Entries and Winners
Tie for first place.
Photo taken by Kira Bates (Int II)
Photo taken by Jeanne Clemons (Int II)
Other entries in random order:
Photo taken by Laura Ditlevson (Int II)
Senior Division Entries and Winners
Photo taken by Elizabeth Gajdosik (Sr)
Photo taken by Joshua Ditlevson
Other entries in random order:
Photo taken by Maran Hallmann (Sr)
Photo taken by Madeline Payne (Sr)
2015 YOUTH PHOTO CONTEST JUDGE, ENTRIES, & WINNERS
Theme: Totes My Goats
2015 ADGA Youth Photo Contest Judge is Brent Dietrich. Brent is a professional photographer and owner of Live View Studios. Live View Studios a fine art film wedding photography studio based in North Carolina, specializing in refined, romantic weddings.
Available for travel all through the United States and beyond. They believe in creating honest and timeless images that have heirloom value and leave behind a legacy of a life well lived.
Brent has a passion for both storytelling and adventuring. When he’s not capturing love stories through his lens, you can find him exploring with his family (wife Anna and daughter Charlotte), either in the mountains or while digging their toes in the sand, searching out eclectic diners, and enjoying family living at home in the southeastern United States.
2015 ADGA Youth Photo Contest Entries
The photos below are those that met the criteria for the 2015 Youth ADGA Photo Contest
and competed for cash prizes.
Junior Division Entries and Winners
Photo taken by Joseph Wagner (Jr)
Photo taken by Natalie Finch (Jr)
Other entries in random order:
Photo taken by Monica Weinbaum (Jr)
Photo taken by Teegan Summers (Jr)
Photo taken by Carson Summers (Jr)
Photo taken by Violette Valente (Jr)
Intermediate I Division Entries and Winners
Photo taken by Hannah Wagner (Int I)
Photo taken by Anna Sorensen (Int I)
Other entries in random order:
Photo taken by Sarah/Abigail Salmon (Int I)
Photo taken by Ariel Torrijos (Int I)
Photo taken by Emily Viera (Int I)
Photo taken by Ethan Wagner (Int I)
Photo taken by Ella Stiefvater (Int I)
Intermediate II Division Entries and Winners
Senior Division Entries and Winners
Photo taken by Elizabeth Gajdosik (Sr)
Photo taken by Sarah Probert (Sr)
2014 YOUTH PHOTO CONTEST JUDGE, ENTRIES, & WINNERS
Theme: Kids and Kids
2014 ADGA Youth Photo Contest Judge Kerry McQuaid is a professional photographer from Oregon City, Oregon. She has a Fine Art degree from Portland State University and has studied art and graphic design in both Oregon and the United Kingdom. She specializes in portraits of children and spends each Fall traveling the Portland Metropolitan area working as a school yearbook photographer. She also enjoys photographing the intricate details of flowers and bugs and takes photos of animals every chance she gets. A portfolio of her work can be seen on her website, www.kerrymcquaid.com.
2014 ADGA Youth Photo Contest Entries
The photos below are those that met the criteria for the 2014 Youth ADGA Photo Contest
and competed for cash prizes.
Junior Division Entries and Winners
Photo taken by Adah Mercer (Jr)
Other entries in random order:
Photo taken by Asher Mercer (Jr)
Photo taken by Shane McCarty (Jr)
Intermediate I Division Entries and Winners
Photo taken by Isobel McCarty (Int I)
Other entries in random order:
Photo taken by Olivia Keena (Int I)
Photo taken by Ciera Keena (Int I)
Intermediate II Division Entries and Winners
Photo taken by James Ferebee (Int II)
Photo taken by Jonathan Nash (Int II)
Senior Division Entries and Winners
Photo taken by Brianna Rafferty (Sr)
Photo taken by Karah Osborne (Sr)
Additional 2014 ADGA Youth Contest Entries
The following photos are of ADGA youth with their goats. However the photos were not taken by the youth member so did not meet the criteria of the contest. Where the youth submitted multiple photos only the first one was used in the contest. These photos are included here to thank these youth for their participation in the contest and encourage them to take pictures for the 2015 contest. The 2015 theme will be “Totes my Goats”!
Photo submitted by Hattie Thompson (Jr)
Photo submitted by Jacob Laplatney (Int II)
Photo submitted by Nicole Cary (Int I)
Photo submitted by Abigail Kankiewicz (Int II)
Photo submitted by Rachel McGinley (Sr)
Photo submitted by Maya Stubbs (Jr)
2nd Photo taken by Adah Mercer (Jr)
Photo submitted by Julia Laplatney (Int I)
3rd Photo taken by Adah Mercer (Jr)
Photo submitted by Jacklyn Laplatney (Int II)
Photo submitted by Lucy Keena (Jr)
Photo submitted by Tory Putterbaugh (Sr)
Photo submitted by Lathen Powell (Sr)
Photo submitted by Lathen Powell (Sr)
. . . and the 2014 winners are…
Junior Winner – Photo taken by Adah Mercer