A few months back, a friend of mine forwarded an online contest over to me to check out.  Knowing I have been out to photograph local Civil War re-enactments he thought I might be interested in participating.  So I did.  Turns out I won first place!

The above photo taken at Nash Farm in Hampton, Georgia was taken during the Simply Southern Jubilee.  I certainly did not take it with the intensions of entering, much less winning, any photography contest.  In fact, I really was shocked that it was picked. I had entered a few other photos in the other categories and honestly felt that my strongest photo was the one below, entitled “Salute”.

Still, I was extremely flattered when I received word that my photo had won.  Here is a portion of the email that was sent:

Dear Civil War Photographers,

After more than three months since its start the 2008 CWPT Photography Contest has finally reached its conclusion.  During the open submission period we received nearly 2,000 photographs into our 4 different contest categories.  Not only did we exceed every quantitative goal that we had established for the contest, but I think it’s safe to say that we eclipsed even our wildest dreams from a qualitative standpoint.  Within those 2,000 entries were hundreds of photos that could easily have been winners in any of our past 12 contests.  Beautiful photos of Civil War battlefields from the far west to the Atlantic coastline, evocative photos of the modern threats facing our nation’s battlefields, historically interesting “Then & Now” photos, and dozens of great photos capturing people on our Civil War battlefields made our job of judging a difficult one.  But choose we did and our 6 judges, from the History Channel, Center for Civil War Photography, and the Civil War Preservation Trust, have selected the best of the best – our winners of the 2008 Civil War Preservation Trust Photography Contest:

Grand Prize:
Ron Callaghan – “New York Monument & Battery”

Battlefield Category
1st Place:  Cary Jones Crawford – “Port Hudson 2008”
2nd Place:  Erik Karabin – “Warren at Gettysburg”
3rd Place:  Chad Keener – “Maryland Monument with Luminaries”
3rd Place:  Kisha Tracy – “Brotherton Cabin – Chickamauga”

People on Civil War Battlefields
1st Place: Jason Morrison – “SSJ 5”
2nd Place: Dave Getz – “Stars & Stripes”
3rd Place: Kathy Wilson Scileny – “They were just boys….”

Threats to Civil War Battlefields
1st Place: Kisha Tracy – “Hazen Monument – Stones River”
2nd Place: Michael Aubrecht – “Modern Raid”
3rd Place: Larry Solvey – “Cedar Creek”

Then & Now Category
1st Place: Lawrence Moore – “Shepherd’s Battery (Fort Fisher)”
2nd Place: Derek Ralston – “Fort Pulaski”
3rd Place: Douglas Mays – “Gettysburg – Trostle Farm”

So needless to say, I was more than pleased.  Not only did this contest see over 2,000 entries, but it was conducted on a national level and sponsored by the likes of the History Channel.  I was more than pleased! In addition to a plaque commemorating the event, my photo will be included in the CWPT 2009 calendar as well as be included in the Hallowed Ground magazine Winter 2008 issue.