Photo and Art Contest Submission

The Photo and Art Committee is responsible for arranging the contest and for soliciting qualified entries for the Texas Chapter of The Wildlife Society (TCTWS) Annual Meeting. In 2026, the Photo and Art Contest will be conducted in the hybrid format described below.

• Digital copies (JPEGs, etc.) must be submitted by 12 PM (noon) on Tuesday, February 17^th, 2026 (the day before the conference).
• To submit entries:
  • Go to the TCTWS membership portal ( https://www.xcdsystem.com/tctws)* YOU WILL NOT LOGIN TO THE TCTWS.ORG WEBSITE AS IN YEARS PAST
  • Log-in to your TCTWS membership profile
  • Click on “Photo Contest Entry” and follow on-page instructions
• You must bring your art submissions and the physical prints of your photo submissions to the Photo & Art table between 8 AM and 12 PM (noon) on Wednesday, February 18^th, 2026 (day 1 of the conference).

All contestants must be members of the TCTWS. (If you have registered for the TCTWS Annual Meeting, you are a member.)

Contestants will be limited to 1 entry per photography category.  Photography categories will be:

1. Texas Wildlife (not including captive animals)
2. Non-Texas Wildlife, Plants, and Scenery
3. Wildlife Conservation (may include captive animal or species of conservation concern)
4. Texas Plants (includes plant-like organisms such as fungi)
5. Humor
6. Texas Scenery
7. Work Related
8. Remote Camera (not including captive animals)

The Art category may include original drawings, paintings, carvings, sculpture, poetry, etc. Art submissions are limited to 5 entries per person.

Contestants are required to submit a digital copy of photographs and/or art via the TCTWS membership portal (https://www.xcdsystem.com/tctws) to be used at the Awards Banquet.  Email photo.art@tctws.org with questions on submitting. If you do not provide digital copies of your submissions by Tuesday, February 17^th  by 12 pm (noon), your work will not be displayed at the Awards Banquet.

To help defray the cost of awards, there will be an entry fee of $1.00 per item, which can be paid online at the time of submission.

Photographs should be a standard size (3″ x 5″ up to 11″ x 14″), unmatted, and unframed; however, cardboard backing is permitted. PLEASE ADHEAR TO THE SIZE RESTRICTIONS. Oversized prints will not be accepted!

An electronic voting platform will be available within the TCTWS 2026 Annual Meeting application from 3 PM on Wednesday, February 18^th until 12 PM on Friday, February 20^st.  Instructions to vote are as follows:

• Open “TCTWS 2026 Annual Meeting” application
• Click “Menu” button in bottom left corner
• Click Rubiks Cube icon labelled “Photo Contest Voting”.
• Select the category of interest.
• To vote on an image, simply touch the image and tap the “Vote For This Photo” button.
• Scroll to the very bottom of the page to go to a different category.
• For the “Best of Show” category, find your favorite entry then make note of the category and last 4 digits of the image name (ex: TCTWS2026-XXXX). You will vote by selecting the image name from a list rather than viewing the image.

You may pick up your entries between 12 PM and 5 PM on Saturday, February 20^th, 2026.  The committee is not responsible for photos & art left after the close of the conference.

Winners will be announced during the Awards Banquet on Friday evening, February 20^th. Provided there are at least 5 entries in a category, 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd places will be awarded in each category.  If there are < 5 entries in a category, only 1st place will be awarded. There will also be a “Best of Show” award for the single most popular entry.