ORD, Nebraska -- Winners have been selected in the 2026 Lower Loup NRD Photo Contest. This year’s competition ran from December 2025 to May 15, 2026, and photographers from across the state submitted images of prairie landscapes, days on the lake, astral phenomena, agricultural beauty, and more. The Lower Loup NRD would like to thank everyone who participated in this year’s contest. The 2026 winners are:

Danielle Bayer of Platte Center won first place in this year’s contest with a black and white photo of cattle coming to feed near Columbus. Danielle likes to spend time traveling around the Columbus area taking photographs of farm life and nature.

Misty Horn of Mullen took second place with a photo of the northern lights taken on the north side of Homestead Knolls at Calamus Reservoir. Misty is a hobby photographer and stated that, “This photo reminds me that beautiful things come and go. We are lucky if we can just capture the moment they are in.”

The third place photo belongs to Sarah Tetschner of North Loup. From a vantage point near Calamus Reservoir, Sarah captured a snapshot of a supercell storm that traveled over central Nebraska in June of 2025.

Bayer’s winning image will be printed and displayed in the LLNRD lobby in Ord for the next year. All three contest winners will receive a prize package. The next LLNRD Photo Contest will begin in December 2026.

Keep up with photo contest announcements and other news at LLNRD.org and facebook.com/lowerloupnrd.