Photo Contest Winners
Category: The Family Circle
Pivot irrigation is central to life on many farms—so show us how your family depends on it and interacts with it. This is the perfect category for photos depicting family members working together to raise an irrigated crop—and the teamwork it takes to be successful on the farm.
Winner: Children play in the cool mist of a running center pivot by Deborah Ebke of Daykin, NE.
Honorable Mention: Cindi Heiden of Benedict, NE, and Mark Newcomer of Stromsburg, NE.
Category: Unusual Views
Let your photographic creativity run rampant! Dramatic close–ups. Unique angles. Creative lighting. Help us see center pivots in a new way—and discover details and beauty that we've never realized were there.
Winner: A center pivot salutes Hale Bopp, the great comet of 1997, by Doug Ferguson of Grand Island, NE.
Honorable Mention: Dennis Inselman of Columbus, NE, and Ramona Smith of Ericson, NE.
Category: Pivotal Moments
This category includes both innovation and embarrassment. Show us the inventive ways you've overcome obstacles in the path of your pivot—or how you've accommodated unique geography on your farm. At the same time, feel free to share photos of the more “forgettable” moments—when your pivot ran amok, suffered storm damage or any other unfortunate situation that might bring a knowing, empathetic smile to another producer who has had a similar experience.
Winner: A center pivot gracefully cruises across a custom-built bridge by Lyle Bostock of Ayr, NE.
Honorable Mention: Greg Bammerlin of Mills, NE, and Ann Fulk of Wallace, NE.
Category: Recycled Circles
What happens to center pivot parts after they've outlived their usefulness? Where some might see scrap metal, others see possibilities. Show us how you or your neighbors have given renewed purpose to what most folks might throw on the junk heap.
Winner: Larry Borer of Elgin, NE, constructed a large storage shed out of spare pivot pieces.
Honorable Mention: Wilber Frey of Fairbury, NE, and Robyn Huffman of Maxwell, NE.
Category: Farming B.C. (Before Circles)
How did we get along before center pivot irrigation? Submit your historical photos of the family moving gated pipe or setting siphon tubes. Or enter any other old photograph from the 1930s to the 1960s that illustrates life on the farm before pivots changed agriculture forever.
Winner: Two men watering corn using siphon irrigation by Mark Newcomer of Stromsburg, NE.
Honorable Mention: Mary Alice Heapy of Litchfield, NE, and Garrett Newcomer of Lincoln, NE.
Category: Pivot Potpourri
If you have a pivot irrigation photo that simply doesn't fit in one of the other categories, enter it here. For example, you might be irrigating an unusual type of crop—or have a great sunset shot you want to share.
Winner: A warm sunset silhouettes the framing of a center pivot by Erika Crick of Sargent, NE.
Honorable Mention: Whitney Ebke of Daykin, NE, and Duane Obermier of Lincoln, NE.
