SACRAMENTO, CA (MPG) - The wife of a fifth-generation cattle rancher from Tulare County earned the Grand Prize in the 39th annual California Farm Bureau Photo Contest. Hannah Gill of Exeter won $1,000 for a photo of her 2-year-old daughter peering through a fence to watch her father rope cattle.

The California Farm Bureau received nearly 400 entries for the 2020 Photo Contest from amateur photographers who are members of county Farm Bureaus.

Ramiro Ruiz of Salinas garnered First Place and $500 for his photo of a foreboding wildfire cloud over a lettuce field. Second Place and $250 went to Maureen LaGrande, an agriculture student at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, for a photo of her twin sister riding a horse at sunset. Marley Sollecito of Spreckels, also a Cal Poly agriculture student, received Third Place and $100 for capturing an image of her dirty boots after a long day in the field.

Six photographers earned Honorable Mentions and $50 each: Celeste Alonzo of La Quinta, Kathy Brimmer of Smartsville, Nancy Perkins of Live Oak, Lynn Sanguinetti of Jamestown, Henry Schulte of Goleta and Andie Traphagan of Ravendale.

Winners of the Budding Artists category for photographers 13 and younger were 13-year-old Laura Campagne of Clovis and 7-year-old Natalie Webb of St. Helena. Laura earned $250 for her close-up shot of the nose of her brother’s goat, and Natalie received $100 for her picture of a grapevine in her hometown. The prizes were presented by the California Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom.

All 12 prize-winning photos will be published this week in the weekly California Farm Bureau newspaper, Ag Alert^®, as well as the organization’s bimonthly magazine, California Bountiful^®, and will appear on the organization’s websites—www.cfbf.com, www.agalert.com and www.californiabountiful.com—and social media pages.

The California Farm Bureau works to protect family farms and ranches on behalf of nearly 32,000 members statewide and as part of a nationwide network of nearly 5.6 million Farm Bureau members.