In addition to winning the contest, the photo will be used to highlight Saskatchewan online and in Tourism advertisements. The photo also took home top prize in the ‘Prairie’ category of the contest while another one of his photos received an honourable mention.

Katerynych said with his first place finish, he wasn’t the only one to win in the contest.

“As much as it is a win for me, it’s also a win for the community as well,” he said. “It shows the underappreciated beauty of the area I live in, like with the North Saskatchewan River running by and all the wildlife, it’s a great place to be.”

He added that winning the contest came as a surprise.

“I was standing in line at [the store] and I was scrolling through my emails and I went into my junk folder,” he explained. “There were two in there and at the time and I didn’t notice the second one at first. I opened the first one which was one for an honourable mention then it my turn at the till. I went back to the second one and opened it and realized it was for the Grand Prize so it was really quite a shock.”

The winning entries and honourable mentions were selected by an external panel of judges. The aim was to capture the province’s natural beauty and dynamic spirit.

Each of the photos shows extraordinary landscapes, winter scenery, diverse experiences, magnificent wildlife and the unique character of Saskatchewan people.

The competition opened in June and received over 4,200 entries by the mid-September deadline.

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loganc.lehmann@pattisonmedia.com