“Beauty and Adventures in the DWGNRA"

Submissions may be made from now until  Friday August 29th.

Our annual calendar contest for photos taken in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area is now open for submissions!  We have been doing an annual calendar contest since 2020 and never tire of seeing and honoring the excellent photographers of our area. We offer 4 different categories for the photos.  Each category will have a winner chosen for a prize of $50.  Other honorable mention awards will be chosen to appear in the calendar to fill out the 12 months and the cover.  

• Landscapes and Waterfalls:
• Wildlife
• Recreation in the Park
• Historical Structures and Miscellaneous

The annual contest takes submissions that feature the wildlife, beautiful scenery, historical structures, and fun activities one can find in the DWGNRA. They can be taken on either side of the Delaware River and there is no dating limit on when the photos were taken, but they must be taken by you. 

You must submit your photos by August 29th! They will then be turned over to the judges and the calendar will be planned. 

You must specify on the submission form how the photos can be used. If the photos may used by the National Park Service (and Friends of DWGNRA) for marketing (all forms) and display at the Headquarters building, please respond "NPS" to the release question on the submission form. This does place any photo the NPS can use in the Public Domain. NPS and Friends of DWGNRA will always give credit to the photographer whenever a photo is used.  If you want to release only to the Friends of DWGNRA for the calendar and marketing purposes, just say "Friends".  If you want to limit the Friends use to calendar only (no marketing use), just say "Calendar".

The cost to enter is $5 for 4 photographs.  They must be named with the Photographers name - title of the photo as to where it was taken. An example is "John Doe - Marie Zimmermann House" or "Jane Doe - Skunk family on the McDade Trail".

Please fill out the form below where your photos can be attached, and then make the payment for the submission by clicking on the button on the photo below the submission form.  You may pay for more than one submission at once, but you must make multiple submissions of 4 photographs each.  For instance, if you want to send 12 photos - pay $15 and fill out the submission form 3 times with 4 photos in each submission. For large files, you may need to do multiple submission anyway - please consider resizing them.

The contest was held in partnership with the Pocono Photo club. Judges for 2025 were Darice Pauselius, (Pocono Arts Council), Kathleen Reilly (Pocono Mountains Visitors Bureau), and Kevin Furst (Pocono Mountains Visitors Bureau) - huge thank you to all three judges!!! It's a tough job! The Winners in each of the 4 categories are: 

• Landscapes and Waterfalls:  Joseph A Li Marzi  - Sunrise over a swampy area in Peters Valley
• Wildlife: Lucy LeFevre- A Butterfly and a Bumblebee
• Recreation in the Park: Harrise Niemczak - Smithfield Beach
• ​Historical Structures and Miscellaneous:  Tommy Sabo - Millbrook Village

Honorable Mentions were also chosen to be in the calendar to fill out the 12 months and cover.  They are allow shown below.  Thank you for all of us at the Friends for the excellent photographers entered this year!! 

The annual contest takes submissions that feature the wildlife, beautiful scenery, historical structures, and fun activities one can find in the Park. They can be taken on either side of the Delaware River and there is no dating limit on when the photos were taken, but they must be taken by you. 

The calendar pictures are shown in order below (verticals are cropped for website, but not for the calendar): 

Cover - Tommy Sabo - Cliff trail

Jan - Joseph A Li Marzi  - A portion of the McDade Trail in winter

Feb - Ann H LeFevre- The White Barn on Route 209

Mar -  Joseph A Li Marzi  - Deer Leap Falls in Childs Park

Apr - Stephen Warshaw - Hummingbird Moth near the Hialeah Picnic area

May - Harrise Niemczak - Smithfield Beach

Jun - Tommy Sabo - Millbrook Village

Jul - Lucy LeFevre- A Butterfly and a Bumblebee

Aug - Tommy Sabo - Cliff Trail Tree

Sep -  Stephen Warshaw - White Tailed Deer McDade Trail

Oct - Eric Goins - Barn on Milford Rd

Nov -  Joseph A Li Marzi  - Sunrise over a swampy area in Peters Valley

​Dec -  Lydia Lutte - Winter in the park