Photo by Robert Williams
Dawson Seelhammer was presented a lifetime sportsman’s license by Caleb Silgjord, Vice President of the Minnesota Game Warden Foundation, for his first place artwork.

By Tucker Henderson

Reporter

The Minnesota Conservation Officers Association recently gained a new logo for their Fish Cops for Kids Program. The logo, which features a fisherman and the state of Minnesota, was created by local student Dawson Seelhammer.

Dawson’s grandfather was scrolling through Facebook when he came across the contest. He immediately thought of his grandson, so he sent the link to Dawson’s mother, Jodi Seelhammer. Dawson got right to work and spent hours figuring out the best design for the contest.

“Lots and lots of thinking,” he said. “I drew multiple ideas up and then asked my parents opinions and then mixed together ideas to get that one.”

Dawson said that it was a task that took a lot of time and patience. The drafting process, he said, probably took him about 12 hours.

“I don’t know, I should have set a timer,” he said. “I think that’s probably the most time consuming part of that whole thing was figuring out what I would do.”

Photo by Robert Williams
Dawson Seelhammer designed a new logo for the Minnesota Conservation Officers Association.

The first call came on May 20 and Jodi was there to tell her son that he had placed in the top three contestants.

“Of all the entries, Dawson had been in the top three,” said Jodi. “They had a Facebook voting for that and he had the most votes on his picture.”

“I really didn’t know what to expect, I was hoping for the best, but I really didn’t know because it was a statewide competition,” said Dawson. “When I heard I was in the top three, my dad was working out in a field, so I went out there and gave him a giant hug and I had a giant smile on my face, it was so exciting. I really didn’t know what to expect at all, I was kinda amazed.”

It wasn’t until a week later that he would find out that he won first place in the statewide contest and would be presented with a lifetime sportsman’s license.

“It was exciting even just being in the top three, so it was amazing when I found out that I won the whole contest,” said Dawson.

The lifetime sportsman’s license covers fishing, spearing, small-game hunting, and trapping, hobbies that Dawson shares with his dad and grandpa. Along with the license, he received some boxes of tackle, a fishing rod and a few other items from the Minnesota Conservation Officers Association. The presentation took place after the Vergas fishing derby Friday, Aug. 11. 

“I do most of that,” said Dawson of the sportsman’s license. “I love to fish, I love to hunt.”