Raise Your Camera and Celebrate Voyageurs 50th Birthday in 2025!

Join Voyageurs Conservancy by raising your camera in celebration of the park’s 50th anniversary in 2025. Visitors to the park are encouraged to share favorite Voyageurs National Park memories, old and new, for a chance to win a prize package, exclusive Voyageurs 50th merchandise and more. Additionally, winning photos will be featured in a special edition 2026 Voyageurs National Park Photo Calendar and at the all-new Crane Lake Visitor Center!

Thank you for your participation, and support toward our mission to preserve, share, and protect the natural beauty of Minnesota's national park. 

Enter to win exclusive prizes and submit your photo entries at photocontest@voyageurs.org. The photo contest will run through early May 1 through Sept. 30, 2025.

Contest Categories

LAND & WATER –  Winter, spring, summer and fall, we want to see it all. From brilliant sunrises to sunsets, endless waterways, rugged islands, secluded sand beaches, campsites, houseboats, resort life, fall colors, 110 miles of snowmobile trails to the spring ice thaw, submit your scenic photos of Voyageurs.

NIGHT SKIES –  Through your lens, help our Dark Sky Park shine in all its glory – constellations, meteor shows, and Northern Lights (or as we call them, Mother Nature's birthday candles!), Voyageurs' is one of the best places in the lower 48 to experience a stellar night sky.

WILDLIFE –  Showcase your wildlife shots captured in Voyageurs, home to more than 50 species of mammals like the black bear, whitetail deer, beavers, grey wolf and moose (oh my!); 240 bird species, and pretty painted turtles. Or, help keep our photo gallery filled to the gills with (54 species) of fish pics. 

PARK HISTORY – Join us in celebrating the beauty of Voyageur’s past by submitting your vintage park photos and stories of memories with friends and family in the park over the last 50 years. How “old” can you go? Scanned photos will be considered! 

How to Enter

• Email submissions to photocontest@voyageurs.org

• Up to seven entries per person will be accepted 

• Include your Name, Mailing Address, Phone Number & contest category(s)

• Share your story by including a brief caption and description about your photos and experience at Voyageurs National Park

Deadline for entry is Sept. 30th, 2025

Up to 12 winning photos will be featured in a special edition 2026 Voyageurs National Park Calendar and throughout the all-new Crane Lake Visitor Center.. Additionally, photos will be highlighted in the Conservancy’s print newsletter, social media channels, and website!

About Voyageurs Conservancy

Voyageurs Conservancy is the official nonprofit partner of Minnesota's National Park. We work directly with the National Park Service to support recreation and conservation projects, enhance the visitor experience, and protect the wild nature of the park for future generations. Join today.

Additional Photo Contest Rules

• The contest is open to all photographers, except employees of the Voyageurs Conservancy and the immediate families of such employees.

• We cannot accept any photo or video footage obtained from drones being flown within Voyageurs National Park without a permit from the National Park Service.

• Submissions may be watermarked if desired, but the watermark should be inconspicuous enough to not interfere with the judging of the photo. A watermarked photo might not be honored by competition (at the judge's sole discretion) if the photographer is unable or unavailable to provide a pristine, water-mark-free version of the image upon request.

• Photos can be taken in any year, but photos submitted in the Voyageurs Conservancy’s previous photo contests are not eligible.

• Entries may originate in any format, as long as they are submitted electronically. Previously published material for which non-exclusive rights were granted may be entered as long as you still maintain the right to grant us a license (see Your Rights below). You must be able to disclose when and where the photo appeared previously to the Voyageurs Conservancy upon request.

• Photos must only be submitted by the original photographer, and have been taken within Voyageurs National Park.

• If you choose to include people with your submission, you are responsible for obtaining the necessary releases from the individuals depicted.

• Entrants must not submit images that involve human nudity, reckless behavior, the willful harassment of wildlife, or damage to the environment by the photographer or any other person. They should be appropriate for all audiences.

Your Rights

• You will retain all rights to any photograph you submit, including ownership if applicable. You do grant the Voyageurs Conservancy and the National Park Service a royalty-free, nonexclusive right, in perpetuity, to:

  • Use the photograph on the internet and in any of our printed publications in support of our mission.

  • Keep the files provided, and to archive the images on CD or in other electronic forms, so that your photos can be used to support our mission and be properly credited.

  • As conditions of this permission, the Voyageurs Conservancy shall credit all photographs with the caption "Photographer's Name" when able.

Questions: Questions and inquiries about the contest rules can be emailed to photocontest@voyageurs.org.

Email Communications: By entering the contest, you are giving the Voyageurs Conservancy permission to email you with information about the contest and about our organization. You can unsubscribe at any time.

2024 Photo Contest Winning Photos & Honorable Mentions

LAND & SKY: Gordy Lindgren, Tom Gable, Randall Kinkor

WILDLIFE: Steve Brown, Benji Inniger, Alex Gross

CELEBRATING 50 YEARS OF VOYAGEURS NATIONAL PARK: Aurora Kohler, Barbara Meier, Debra Bernard

Honorable Mentions: Donna Ohman, Scott Mason, Carrie Franckowiak, Daniel Dendler, Jennifer Johnson, Mike Dario, Wendy Pedginki, Diana Friess, Rita Reiling

2023 Photo Contest Winning Photos & Honorable Mentions

LAND & SKY: Gordy Lindgren, Tom Gable, Amanda Cook

FRIENDS & FAMILY: Kendall Burgess-Losensky, Kyle Severson, Scott Mason

WILDLIFE: Steve Brown, Todd Maddison, Harris Kramer

Honorable Mentions: Erica VanDeWalker, Bob Molyneux, Timothy Middendorf, Timothy Akes, Noelle Eschen, Cory VanDeWalker, Louise (Lulu) Kulaga, Chris Herman, Carolyn Allaby King, Mark Miller, Miranda Tunheim