2012 Green Photo Contest winner takes more great photos — of polar bears!

Last fall, WWF’s Schools for a Living Planet program partnered with OWL and chickaDEE magazines and Frontiers North Adventures to offer one lucky reader a trip to Churchill, Manitoba to see polar bears in the wild — and a Canon camera to be fully equipped to take some amazing photos.
To enter, nearly 800 children aged 6–13 photographed anything in nature and submitted their best shot to a panel of judges at WWF and Owlkids. Nine-year-old Samantha Adams from Victoria, BC won the contest with this photo:

After planning and anticipating her trip for nearly a year — and practicing wearing layers since September — Sam travelled to Churchill with her father Rob this past weekend! She just arrived back from her trip, and was able to answer a few questions and share some of her favourite photographs with us.

What was the best thing about your trip?
The best thing about the trip was seeing the polar bears and the other wildlife. The first day we saw six polar bears and some ptarmigan.  We saw a Mom and a two-year-old, two males sparring and two other bears that were sleeping.  The second day we went back to see the two sparring males and they sparred for a while and had a nap.  Then we went away and saw another sleeping bear, more ptarmigan, two arctic hare and an arctic fox!!  Then we went back to the sparring males, they were still sleeping and one was using a rock for a pillow….it was very cute.  The tundra is very flat and bare, the trees are very short and there were a whole bunch of rocks and pools of water. The snow blew diagonally and there wasn’t very much of it on the ground.

What was one thing that you learned on your trip? 
I learned about flag trees.  On the top parts of the tree they only have branches on one side and the driver said those branches are always pointing south.  On the bottom, where the snow protects the tree, there are a whole bunch of branches.  This is called the Krummholz effect.

Do you have any plans to share your experience with others, like make a presentation to your class?
Yes, my teacher is going to teach me how to do a Powerpoint presentation of my pictures, to share with my class.  I’m also sharing my pictures and adventure with friends, family and acquaintances that have heard about my trip over the last year and are eager to see what I saw.
Is there anything else you’d like to share about your trip?
I got to pretend to drive the Tundra buggy and wear the drivers fur hat.  It was made out of muskrat fur and was really soft.  We got to hear a polar bear vocalize.  The baby was calling for its Mom because it was afraid to come up to the Tundra buggy with her.  It sounds like Chewbacca.  The scientist on the Tundra buggy said this was quite rare, so we were all very excited.  Thank you very much for picking me to go on this trip. It was amazing!! 

Thanks Sam!
PS. You have until October 31st to enter the 2013 Green Photo Contest with Owlkids! This year’s prize is a whale watching adventure for four to Victoria, BC (travel and accommodation included).
WWF’s Schools for a Living Planet connects educators and students of all ages to WWF’s conservation work. Join the S4LP community and learn how you can inspire your classrooms and classmates to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature.