SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) – Adam Grimm, a wildlife artist from Wallace, South Dakota, has won the Federal Duck Stamp Art Contest through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for a third time.
Grimm’s acrylic painting of two spectacled eiders will be made into the 2025-26 Federal Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp. Sales to hunters, conservationists and collectors have raised over $1.6 billion for wildlife and waterfowl conservation since the contest started in 1934.
“I’m very passionate about conservation and habitat protection, but I focus a lot obviously on the art side of it and help bring awareness to the beauty of God’s creation through my art,” Grimm said.
Grimm beat out 230 other painters from around the country during last week’s competition. He’s been submitting his paintings for the duck stamp nearly every year since he was 18 years old. In 2023, he came in second place and was anticipating a similar turn out until his name was called as the winner. Not only does a win help support the artists financially, it boosts their name recognition.
“In what I do, there’s no bigger competition out there for a wildlife artist,” Grimm said. “The amount of publicity that you get from winning that contest is more than what you could buy or really get in any other way. I mean, it’s a lot of recognition.”
He’ll spend the next year traveling to different events to give speeches and getting prints of his painting made, as well as a medallion and flyers to promote the duck stamp program. While artists don’t get directly compensated for winning the contest, Grimm said the main way artists make money is by selling print copies of the duck stamp painting.
This is the third time Grimm has won the national competition. Before this year, he won in 2014 with two canvasback ducks and in 2000, became the youngest artist to win at 21 years old. He still holds the title today, however his daughter will be eligible to enter the Duck Stamp contest next year.
“I’m a little concerned because she’s pretty good,” he said. “She’s pretty good and she’s actually won the Federal Junior Duck Stamp competition three times. She holds the record for the youngest ever Junior Duck Stamp winner.”
Grimm and his family moved to South Dakota 17 years ago from Ohio to be in the central flyway for waterfowl. This way, he’s able to go outside and get more realistic photo references for his paintings. For this year’s duck stamp painting, Grimm used over 30 reference photos he took of the local birds, wildlife, water, grasses and hills. The Ohio native said his photos influence what he paints.
“I might be out trying to photograph canvasbacks or mallards or something and lo and behold, a red fox comes walking along the shoreline and is just standing there in the beautiful sunlight,” Grimm said. “I ended up getting great photos of a red fox and then maybe decided to do a painting of a red fox. I had no intention of even doing that, but that opportunity presented itself and I just tried to take advantage because you can’t control nature.”
Grimm must sit out of the competition for three years now that he’s won, but he plans to submit another painting once he’s eligible again in 2028.
