Freshman's butterfly photo wins library contest

Kelley Renard can grin and say cheese.

A photograph she snapped has placed her in the spotlight as part of a recent photography contest.

Kelley, a freshman at Evans High School, has won the Teen Read Week Photography Contest sponsored by Gibbs Memorial Library.

The theme of the contest was "get real" and called for photographs with reality based content.

Kelley, 15, had already taken a picture in her backyard of a butterfly that she thought was good. She decided to enter the photo after reading about the contest in the Oct. 12 issue of The Columbia County News-Times.

Her color photo of a butterfly eating as it settled on a bush was good enough to earn her first place with 68 votes, said Kleo Hidalgo, of the library.

"It was really beautiful," Hidalgo said. "We still have them (the winning photos) up."

Tim Smith, an 11th grader, placed second with 43 votes, and Kevin Hackett, a senior, finished in third place, receiving 41 votes. Teenagers and library patrons voted for their favorite photos. The contest ran from Oct. 16-22.

Nineteen teenagers entered this year's contest, including one e-mailed photo from a seventh grader, Ben Stewart, living in England. Ben apparently found out about the contest through the Homeschool Association, Hidalgo said.

"His picture was a duck's nest with eggs in it," Hidalgo said. "It was very, very pretty."

Hidalgo said she was pleased with this year's turnout, especially with the number of high school participants.

"We're thinking about making it an annual program," she said. "We will have display cases in the new (library) building."