North Dakota Living was wowed by the amount and quality of the photo entries submitted in our first ever photo contest! We received almost 300 submissions depicting the life, love and land of the great state of North Dakota.
We had a heck of a time choosing the winners.
Thanks to everyone who particpated and congratulations to the winners of the 2025 North Dakota Living Photo Contest!
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Watch for information on the 2026 contest later this year.
FOLKS THAT CAN’T BE BEAT Category Winner
“Frank Kuntz walks among his Nokota horses near Linton in Emmons County”
Mark Fox
Northern Plains Electric Cooperative
Frank Kuntz has been a champion for the Nokota horses, a bloodline of horses dating back to the 1800s and famously known for being the horses in Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Mark Fox met Kuntz while traveling around North Dakota photographing every county in the state for his book, “Dirt Roads to Downtown.” A story in the June 2023 issue of North Dakota Living featured Fox’s book and photos.
LAND THAT WE LOVE Category Winner
“Hawk in Flight”
Shelly Glaesman
KEM Electric Cooperative
Shelly Glaesman and her daughter were deer hunting south of Lehr when they spotted this scene and stopped to capture it. Down the road, Glaesman saw even more of the birds of prey.
NORTH DAKOTA LIVING Category Winner
“Twin Combines”
LuAnn Hanson
Capital Electric Cooperative
LuAnn Hanson’s husband, Mike, captured this photo of the wheat harvest. Sadly, Mike and one of the people driving a combine have since died, making this photo even “more special than it was before,” LuAnn says. This photo was taken on her sister’s family farm.
GRAND PRIZE Winner
“A Touch of Heaven”
Jonni L. Kramlich
Northern Plains Electric Cooperative and KEM Electric Cooperative
Jonni Kramlich’s grand-prize winning photo is of a cowboy from out west who comes to North Dakota to ride horses with Kramlich’s daughter. The night before this photo was taken, the young bronc rider competed in South Dakota and took quite the spill, so he was a “beat up cowboy” in the photo. The horse is Kramlich’s daughter’s stallion, Nitro.
