Calling All Photographers! Enter the WRRC 2024 Photo Contest

November 20, 2024

Enter the 2024 Photo Contest!

The Water Resources Research Center (WRRC) is excited to announce its 2024 annual photo contest! This year’s theme, Water in Arizona, offers lots of opportunities for creativity, inviting you to capture the essence of how water impacts life in our state. Whether you’re passionate about landscapes, wildlife, urban scenes, or how people interact with water, we want to see your unique perspective on this vital resource.

2023 Winner: Water in Arizona – Jim Muntz – After the Storm, Marana, AZ, 2023

Theme Overview

We encourage participants to interpret “Water in Arizona” broadly. Your submissions can focus on anything from the natural world—such as rivers, lakes, deserts, plants, and wildlife—to water’s role in human activities like agriculture, industry, and daily life. If you love photographing people and pets, the contest is also open to shots of them at work or play, as long as water is the focal point. The key criterion is that all photos must be taken within Arizona and relate in some way to water.*

Contest Categories

This year’s contest features three main categories, giving photographers a wide range of subjects to explore:

  1. People/Pets – Capture the joy, struggle, or everyday interaction of people and pets with water.
  2. Nature/Wildlife – Show us the beauty and resilience of Arizona’s landscapes, plants, and animals that depend on water.
  3. The Built Environment – Explore the relationship between water and human-made environments, from urban infrastructure to rural irrigation systems.

*In addition to these categories, we are excited to introduce a Special Category for 2024:

Borders – This category is inspired by the theme of WRRC’s upcoming 2025 Annual Conference: Shared Borders, Shared Waters: Working Together in Times of Scarcity. Your photos in this category don’t have to be taken in Arizona, but we encourage you to use the theme of the conference to inspire your submissions.

2023 Runner-up: Special Category – Water Scarcity & Extreme Weather Outside of Arizona – Wendy Islas – Reflections, Coyote Buttes North, UT/AZ Border, 2018

Winners

The winners of each category will be announced at WRRC’s annual Chocolate Fest, held in February 2025 (date TBD). In addition to being recognized at the event, winning photographs will be featured on the WRRC website and included in various WRRC publications and outreach materials. This is a great opportunity to showcase your photography skills and contribute to highlighting water in Arizona and beyond.

How to Enter

Submit your photos by December 20, 2024. Visit our website for detailed information about eligibility and submission criteria. Please ensure that your photos meet the guidelines to be considered.

We can’t wait to see your photos and how you capture the importance of water in Arizona! Whether it’s through the lens of a camera focused on the people, wildlife, or built environments that rely on this precious resource, we look forward to your participation.

Good luck, and happy shooting!


Water – Use It Wisely is proud to feature guest bloggers who write about topics related to water and water conservation. The author of this blog, John Polle, is a Media Specialist at the University of Arizona Water Resources Research Center (WRRC).

The WRRC is a Cooperative Extension center and a research unit in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. It is the designated state water resources research center established under the 1964 Federal Water Resources Research Act. The WRRC conducts water policy research and analysis, and its information transfer activities include publications, conferences, lectures, and seminars. Water news and information are provided to the academic community, water professionals, elected and appointed officials, students and the public.


From Water – Use It Wisely

Want some inspiration? Find our Celebrate AZ Water blogs!