"Loyal Friend"

November 6, 2003

Eddie Leroy of Eufaula, Alabama, has been selected winner of South Carolina's 24th annual State Duck Stamp contest, a program of the S.C. Department of Natural Resources. Leroy's acrylic painting of a black Labrador Retriever retrieving a pintail with three pintails flying over a Charleston County marsh was judged the winning entry by members of the S.C. Migratory Waterfowl Committee from the 49 entries submitted by artists from 22 states, including eight South Carolina artists. Waterfowl committee members called the artwork submissions the strongest field in recent history of the contest. Leroy painted the Lowcountry marsh background for his winning entry from a scene on Oak Plantation near Charleston, which he photographed in 1997 when commissioned to do a painting of the plantation for owner Ted Turner.

Leroy, 38, began his art career during college and has been chosen as the artist for a number of stamp-print programs. He is one of the artists featured at National Wild Turkey Federation national headquarters in Edgefield, SC. Previous awards include: 1990-91 Florida Turkey Stamp; 1991 Ducks Unlimited Sponsor Print; 1998 Arkansas Turkey Stamp; 1999-2000 Alabama Duck Stamp; 2000 National Wild Turkey Federation Stamp; 2003 Arkansas Wild Turkey Stamp; as well as several Mississippi Flyway Ducks Unlimited stamps. Leroy's recent works include a painting depicting the Arkansas area where former President Jimmy Carter duck hunts.

© 2004 Arcadia Publications of Columbia, Inc