Ready…Set…Vote

It’s Election Time, but the polls we’ve got in mind are related to the People’s Choice Awards at the 2014 State Fish Art Expo set for Aug. 15-17 in Columbia, S.C. as part of the Forrest Wood Cup festivities.

Voters are asked to view the fish artwork rendered by schoolchildren in the virtual gallery at WildlifeForever.org and then vote for their favorites. Twenty-nine national awards will be announced at the Forrest Wood Cup and the winners who attend will be introduced on-stage at Saturday’s weigh-in. The voting process is easy and multiple voting is allowed. Online voting will be accepted through July 13, with on-site voting permitted Aug. 15 at the FLW Expo, which is where the artwork will be on display.

The national awards go to entrants in grades K-3, 4-6, 7-9 and 10-12, and beside “Top 12” recognition to the three top vote-getters in each grade, include:

• “Fish Make You Smarter” essay awards. The essays accompany each piece of art and the top three in each grade will be recognized

• Art of Conservation Stamp Award, with the winning artwork being reproduced as the 2014 Willdife Forever State-Fish Art Conservation Stamp

• Smile Award, for whimsical fish art

• Invade Crusader Award, that depicts an indigenous fish and suggests how it is adversely affected by an invasive species

• Seth Thomas Spradlin Best of Show Award. The latter award is named after a 2008 winner who lost his life in a plane accident

There are 152 pieces of art on display on the website and fans can vote online once a day (every 24 hours) for an image. It’s also acceptable to vote once a day for multiple images. There is no fee for voting and as an image receives votes, it moves closer to the front. Winners will be awarded rod-and-reel combos.