The winners of the Diverge8 Photo Contest, put on by Sitka Gear, have been announced. Wait until you see this pictures...
Sitka Gear knows how to put on a contest. Their recently-wrapped Diverge8 Photo Contest brought together some of the greatest outdoor activities, the wildest places you can reach, and the best photography the hunting space has seen in a good while.
We followed along as Sitka encouraged outdoorsmen and women to capture the stoke during their adventures throughout the season.
It was a bold idea, and one that was embraced by folks with serious talent.
With over 25,000 submissions to sift through, the #DIVERGE8 winners were finally decided, and can be seen below or on Sitka's website.
Want to see an inside peek at the judge debrief and winner selection process? Yeah, we do too.
The whole photo contest concept is no surprise in the outdoor world, but one that produced such fantastic entries deserves an extra look.
Where does the "8" in Diverge8 come in, you ask? It's in reference to the prizes of $8,000 in high-quality stuff, including a combination of Sitka Gear apparel, hunting bows, Leupold optics, YETI Load Out Boxes, blinds, decoys, and more.
There were 15 finalists, who all received a special edition cap for making it that far, and from there the main winners in the Big Game, Whitetail, and Waterfowl categories were chosen.
Here are the winners in each of the three main categories, plus the People's Choice Award winner.
#DIVERGE8 Waterfowl and People's Choice Winner
Bill Kercher @BillKercher
This was an obvious front-runner when we first saw it back in the beginning of the 2019 waterfowl season, and it came through in the end. The somewhat tragic, bittersweet, poignancy helped the photo tug at our heart strings and ultimately win over the judges.
#DIVERGE8 Big Game Winner
Bianca Germain @biancagermain
#DIVERGE8 Whitetail Winner
Dwayne Bratcher @DwayneBratcher
We've known Sitka to be a company that stands behind their stuff, and have found nothing but satisfaction with all the gear of theirs we've tried out. Giving us another reason to like what they're doing is sort of the thing they do.
You can see plenty more examples of what the judges had to choose from with a search of #Diverge8 on Instagram or Facebook.
Here's hoping they do it again next year, because the Sitka Gear Diverge Photo Contest sure did deliver.
NEXT: SITKA USES THE SCIENCE OF SOUND ON THEIR NEW FANATIC HUNTING GEAR
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