The winning photo from the 2023 ExploreSask Photo Contest. (Gilbert Katerynych)

By Logan Lehmann

Best of the best

North Battleford man wins top prize in provincial photography contest

Nov 25, 2023 | 3:38 PM

A photographer from North Battleford has won the Grand Prize in the 2023 ExploreSask Photo Contest.

The winning photo was taken by Gilbert Katerynych and shows a moose walking across the North Saskatchewan River with the silhouette of North Battleford in the sunrise in the background, which includes the city’s iconic water tower.

Katerynych explained that the photo was truly once in a lifetime.

“It’s a spot that I go to on the regular, especially in the morning – especially in the autumn,” he said. “It was in the morning and it was a stroke of luck with the moose going by. I actually saw a few that morning, but the big bull was the second one and it lined up really nice and allowed me to take the shot.”

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.

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Gilbert received an honourable mention in the Prairie catagory of the contest for this photo. (Gilbert Katerynych)

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