“RED SPOTTED NEWT”: Janice Annunziata’s photograph was selected as the winner of the Delaware River Basin’s (DRBC) Spring 2018 Photo Contest. The DRBC’s seasonal photo contest was founded to highlight amateur and professional photography representing the beauty, diversity, function, and significance of the water resources of the Delaware River Basin.

The Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) has announced that Janice Annunziata’s photograph, titled “Red Spotted Newt,” was chosen as the winner of the commission’s Spring 2018 Photo Contest. Twenty-two photographs were submitted by 15 individuals for the contest.

“Each photograph submitted to DRBC’s Spring Photo Contest highlighted not only the renewal and beauty of the basin’s water resources in spring, but also the variety of life — from plants to animals to humans — that depend on them,” said DRBC Executive Director Steve Tambini. “We thank everyone who entered the contest. While there were many exceptional entries to choose from, Janice’s photo stood out amongst the other entries for its focus on a creature native to the basin whose awakening from hibernation and migration to vernal pools to reproduce is one of the early signs that the spring season has finally arrived.”

The winning image was chosen by a judging panel of three DRBC staff members and will be featured on the commission’s website at www.nj.gov/drbc/basin/photo/photo-contest.html and on DRBC’s social media sites. The photo will also be published in the commission’s 2018 annual report, and the winner will receive a certificate of recognition.

The purpose of DRBC’s seasonal photo contest is to highlight amateur and professional photography representing the beauty, diversity, function, and significance of the water resources of the Delaware River Basin, a 13,539-square-mile watershed. In legislation signed into law in December 2016, the U.S. Congress declared that “the Delaware River Basin is a national treasure of great cultural, environmental, ecological, and economic importance.”

The Summer Photo Contest will begin on June 25 and has a deadline of August 1, 2018. Complete contest details, including instructions on how to submit photographs, are available on DRBC’s website listed above.

To learn more about the commission, visit www.drbc.net.