Dawsonville’s Historic Preservation Commission (HPC) has unanimously approved its second annual photography contest for local students.

“For a period, we had high school students go out into the community and take photographs of historic buildings in downtown… they were compiled by the high school art teacher. We sent those then to a selection committee who chose a winner,” HPC Chairwoman Angie Smith said.

In the inaugural competition, co-winners were awarded and had their photographs displayed in Dawsonville City Hall during May, the national historic preservation month.

At the April 29, 2019 HPC meeting, Ian Costley was announced as the winner of the “This is Our Town” photography contest, with Caroline Cranford receiving honorable mention.

“We presented them with a monetary prize and a certificate from the city so we would like to make this year the second annual,” Smith said.

At the most recent HPC meeting, members agreed to follow the rules and procedures put in place for the 2019 photography contest which is open to students at Dawson County High School and Dawson County Junior High School. Students can enter a maximum of three photographs in the competition. Entries must include title of photograph, first and last name of photographer and the date and location of the photograph.

The committee is looking at setting the submission deadline in early April, before students leave school for spring break, so that the contest winner can be announced at the HPC’s April 27 meeting. An exact deadline date was not set during the Feb. 24 meeting.

Smith asked for a volunteer on the committee who would be willing to coordinate with the high school art teachers to facilitate obtaining photos for the third party selection committee. Commission member Carrie Fallstrom accepted to be the photography contest liaison and will be providing additional information on the contest to the schools’ art teachers.