Governor’s Choice Photo Winner Jennifer Cook

Jennifer Cook of Bingham County, Idaho got a great shot of the Sawtooth mountains with the Salmon River and grazing cattle in the foreground, and found herself standing next to Idaho Governor Brad Little after her photo was selected as the Best in Show & Governor’s Choice winner in the Idaho Farm Bureau’s Promotions & Engagement Photo Contest.

Verbatim:

Jennifer Cook was driving through the Sawtooth Mountains near Stanley from her home in Bingham County.

“We were headed to the Summer Leadership Conference, my husband and I, and we were headed through Stanley, and we thought we'd look around a little bit before we stopped at our hotel. And we turned around, and this was our view, and kind of caught us by shock and awe, so we stopped and took a picture.”

She took this photo and decided to enter it in the Idaho Farm Bureau’s Promotions & Engagement Photo Contest.

“This year, they added a category that it's a Governor's Choice Award. When I got there and I didn't see my picture for us to vote on, I was a little bit like, dang it, I thought I had some really good pictures, but then I saw that I got Governor's Choice and I was so excited because it's a new category.

I've entered it before, but never won this big of a prize.”

“Governor Little, on behalf of the Idaho farmers and ranchers…”

That brought her here to the Governor’s office, next to Idaho Governor Brad Little and Idaho Farm Bureau President Matt Dorsey.

“What was this like today to stand next to the governor and the Farm Bureau president and be like, hey, here's your photo from me?”

“Overwhelming.”

“Were you nervous coming up here?”

“Yeah, I was nervous for sure.”

The framed photo will hang in the Governor’s Policy Room for the year. In late July Jennife

“I hope that this is a good reminder for agriculture in Idaho and how important it is, especially like in this picture, you can see that the beef industry is here in Idaho and it's important. So hopefully it will help keep that on their minds when they're making decisions.”