Richard Clifton painting wins Delaware Waterfowl Stamp Contest

The results are in, and two artists – including a renowned name on both the national level and in Delaware – have won top honors in the state’s waterfowl and trout stamp art contests. The winning Waterfowl Stamp Contest painting depicts a long-tailed duck and a black Labrador retriever portrayed by Richard Clifton of Milford, a past federal duck stamp competition winner who also has captured best in show in numerous state duck stamp contests. The painting will grace the 2019-20 Delaware Waterfowl Stamp. A painting of a brook trout by Broderick Crawford of Clayton, Ga., will adorn the 2019 Delaware Trout Stamp.

Clifton and Crawford were chosen by contest judges in the DNREC Division of Fish & Wildlife’s annual stamp art competition held April 12 at the Dover Public Library. The stamp contests drew 30 entries for the 2019-20 Waterfowl Stamp and 16 entries for the 2019 Trout Stamp. The 39th annual Waterfowl Stamp Contest specified that submitted artwork must include a long-tailed duck and a black Labrador retriever. The trout stamp artwork can feature one or more species of brown, brook or rainbow trout in a setting or environment found in Delaware.

As the waterfowl stamp winner, Clifton receives a $2,500 prize and 150 artist’s proofs of the limited-edition print series of his first-place entry. Clifton, who resides on a historic family farm near Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge, is an avid hunter and self-taught wildlife artist who works in acrylics, with waterfowl as one of his favorite subjects. He has painted 51 winning duck stamps, including eight Delaware Waterfowl Stamps, the 1996 Australian Duck Stamp and the 2007-08 Federal Duck Stamp, and he is the current Ducks Unlimited International Artist of the Year.

As the trout stamp winner, Crawford receives $250 and retains the rights to reproduce and sell prints of the stamp. Broderick grew up in the southern Appalachians, and has been exploring streams and mountainsides all his life. He is an avid fly fisherman and supporter of Trout Unlimited. His favorite fish has always been the brook trout. A few years back, he won the competition in Georgia with a brook trout painting for the Trout Unlimited vehicle tag in that state. Crawford is a wildlife and sporting art artist working in mostly acrylic paints who has entered and placed in Delaware’s stamp several times.

Other winners for the waterfowl stamp contest include second place, Caleb Metrich, Lake Tomahawk, Wis.; third place, Dee Dee Murry, Centralia, Wash.; honorable mentions – George Bradford, Georgetown; Paul R. Fenwick, Hillsborough, N.J.; and Broderick Crawford, Clayton, Ga.

Other winners for the trout stamp contest include second place, George Bradford, Georgetown, brown trout; third place, Micah Hanson, St. Charles, Minn., brown trout; honorable mentions – Ryan Peterson, Jackson, Wyo., rainbow trout; Stephen Hamrick, Lakeville, Minn., rainbow trout; and Jeffrey Klinefelter, Etna Green, Ind., rainbow trout.

The 2019-20 Waterfowl Stamp judges were: Pete MacGaffin, Delaware Ducks Unlimited representative; Lloyd Alexander, art collector; F. Thomas Unruh, Advisory Council on Wildlife and Freshwater Fish member; and wildlife biologists Anthony Gonzon and Justyn Foth.

The 2019 Trout Stamp judges were: Unruh; Desmond Kahn, White Clay Fly Fishers member; Cathy Martin, avid angler; and fisheries biologists Edna Stetzar and Scott Newlin.

DNREC’s Division of Fish & Wildlife, in partnership with Ducks Unlimited, started the Delaware Waterfowl Stamp (formerly known as the Delaware Duck Stamp) and print program in 1980 to raise funds for waterfowl conservation, including acquiring and improving wetland habitats vital to the survival of migratory waterfowl. To date, more than $2.8 million has been raised.

The Division of Fish & Wildlife began requiring trout stamps in the 1950s, and a trout stamp and a general fishing license are required to fish in designated trout waters during certain seasons. Trout stamp art was first used in 1977. The fees paid for trout stamps are used to purchase rainbow and brown trout from commercial hatcheries, with the purchased trout stocked in two downstate ponds and selected streams in northern New Castle County for Delaware’s trout seasons.