The winners of the 2010 Youth Essay Contest are..........
First Place
Alexandra Summers, Spring TX - Age 16 - "Huntress" (Click here to read her essay)
Alexandra won the contest with a total of 32 points. (See the scoring summary below).
Alexandra has won a fully-guided, private-land, rifle, bull-elk hunt on the Hondo Ranch, a $10,000 retail value! The Hondo Ranch is located in south-central New Mexico and is one of the premier elk-hunting ranches in the state. The date of the hunt will be December 27-31, 2010. Click here to go to Hondo Ranch Elk-Hunting page.
Larry and Louise Tillman, of the Hondo Ranch, have donated the landowner permit, ranch access and accommodations. Elite has donated the guiding, food and license.
Russ Peagler of Monck's Corner, SC has donated $500 toward the equipment and/or travel expenses for the first-place winner.
Second Place
Kelton Goold, Dalhart, TX - Age 15 - "Hunting, a Sport and a Passion" (Click here to read his essay)
Kelton placed second in the contest with a total of 26 points. (See the scoring summary below)
Kelton has won a fully-guided, private-land, rifle pronghorn antelope hunt on the Gordon Ranch, a $2,700 retail value! The Gordon Ranch is located in central New Mexico and is home not only to elk, but some top-notch pronghorn antelope as well. The date of the hunt will be September 11-12, 2010. Click here to go to the Gordon Ranch Antelope-Hunting page.
Gordon and Jan Barham, of the Gordon Ranch, have donated the landowner permit and ranch access. Elite has donated the guiding, food, accommodations and hunting license.
Michael Groom of Los Gatos, CA has donated $300 toward the equipment and/or travel expenses for the second-place winner.
Third Place
Lukas Huggins, Baker City, OR - Age 14 - "Hunting Not Killing" (Click here to read his essay)
Lukas placed third in the contest with a total of 24 points. (See the scoring summary below)
Lukas has won a fully-guided pheasant hunt on the South Dakota River Ranch in northeastern South Dakota. A $2,500 retail value! The hunt dates are flexible.
Dennis Jones, of the South Dakota River Ranch, has donated the land access, guiding, accommodations and food.
Eric Bell of Romeoville, IL has donated $200 toward the equipment and/or travel expenses for the third-place winner.
Honorable Mention
Aaron McKinney, Keysville, VA - Age 15 - " The Sport of Hunting"
Jeremiah Pfadt, North East, PA - Age 13 - "Hunting: My Life My Passion"
Aaron and Jeremiah tied for 4th place with 14 points each. (See the scoring summary below)
Aaron and Jeremiah have each won a genuine elk antler from the Sacramento Mountains of central New Mexico. I found a matched 5-point set of antlers laying yards apart back in March. Aaron and Jeremiah will each get one of the antlers and share a gift given to them by a single bull elk.
Scoring Summary
A total of 36 essays were submitted by the youth contestants.
Judging was conducted by a panel of six judges. Each judge independently read the essays and determined their top five essays. Points were awarded for each judge according to the chart below;
1st-Place Vote = 10 points
2nd-Place Vote = 8 points
3rd-Place Vote = 6 points
4th-Place Vote = 4 points
5th-Place Vote = 2 points
|
Judge #1 |
Judge #2 |
Judge #3 |
|
1st - Kelton Goold |
1st - Jeremiah Pfadt |
1st - Calvin Beckman |
|
2nd - Alexandra Summers |
2nd - Colter Christian |
2nd - Lukas Huggins |
|
3rd - Lukas Huggins |
3rd - Alexandra Summers |
3rd - Benjamin French |
|
4th - Luke Gephart |
4th - Kelton Goold |
4th - Ross Capps |
|
5th - Ethan Hinkle |
5th - Tyler Mitchell |
5th - Jackson Fischer |
|
Judge #4 |
Judge #5 |
Judge #6 |
|
1st - Lukas Huggins |
1st - Alexandra Summers |
1st - Aaron McKinney |
|
2nd - Alexandra Summers |
2nd - Tyler Mitchell |
2nd - Kristen Clark |
|
3rd - Kelton Goold |
3rd - Ashley Vaught |
3rd - Kelton Goold |
|
4th - Aaron McKinney |
4th - Jeremiah Pfadt |
4th - Luke Gephart |
|
5th - Luke Gephart |
5th - Makayla Newman |
5th - Ross Capps |
Contestant Scoring
Alexandra Summers (8+6+8+10) = 32 points
Kelton Goold (10+4+6+6) = 26 points
Lukas Huggins (6+8+10) = 24 points
Aaron McKinney (4+10) = 14 points
Jeremiah Pfadt (10+4) = 14 points
Luke Gephart (4+2+4) = 10 points
Calvin Beckman (10) = 10 points
Tyler Mitchell (2+8) = 10 points
Colter Christian (8) = 8 points
Kristen Clark (8) = 8 points
Ross Capps (4+2) = 6 points
Benjamin French (6) = 6 points
Ashley Vaught (6) = 6 points
Makayla Newman (2) = 2 points
Jackson Fischer (2) = 2 points
Ethan Hinkle (2) = 2 points
Consolation Prizes
Consolation prizes will be awarded to all contestants who entered the contest and did not win a hunt.
Mark Michalsky of Chesapeake City, MD has donated $300 toward the consolation prizes.
Shawn Schmidtke of Oregon City, OR has donated $200 toward the consolation prizes.
Bert Brunell of Brunell's Mountain Clothing Company, Ruidoso, NM donated his profits and ordered consolation prizes for us at store cost. This generosity allowed us to purchase better prizes than we could have otherwise.
Everyone involved in the contest thank each and every youth who took the time and effort required to write an essay on "Hunting". You are all class acts and I wish we could give a hunt to each of you.
I have no doubt that we will offer the contest again in 2011. Maybe, with additional help, we can expand it.
Thanks again to the sponsors who made this whole contest possible.