Staff Report

Judging for the North Carolina Waterfowl Conservation Stamp competition scheduled for today at the Washington Civic Center has been rescheduled for 10 a.m. Wednesday, according to Lynn Wingate, the city’s tourism-development director.

“Given the weather and expected delivery delays, we conferred with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission to make this call. The entry deadline has been extended to Tuesday at 5 p.m.,” Wingate wrote in an email distributed Friday.

The original deadline for entries was 5 p.m. Friday. The postponement is the first since the competition has been conducted in Washington.

The duck-stamp competition serves as a prelude for the 21st-annual East Carolina Wildlife Arts Festival and North Carolina Decoy Carving Championships in Washington the weekend of Feb. 5-7. Guy Crittenden’s painting of black ducks won last year’s competition. This year’s blue-ribbon entry will be used as the artwork for the prints and stamps sold to help pay for North Carolina’s portion of the North American Waterfowl Management Plan, an international agreement aimed at protecting waterfowl and waterfowl habitat. The sales of prints and stamps also support waterfowl research and purchases equipment used in wetlands management.

The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission and the Washington Tourism Development Authority sponsor the annual contest.

The annual wildlife festival, began by the East Carolina Wildfowl Guild and now managed by the Washington Tourism Development Authority, draws some of the best wildlife artists, decoy carvers and wildfowl callers in the nation. The three-day event also brings customers to area businesses and visitors to the city during what is the slowest time of the year (when it comes to sales) for most of those businesses.

A one-day pass to the festival costs $7, with a three-day pass costing $12. Children under 12 years old are admitted at no cost. Tickets may be purchased at the Washington Civic Center.