Winning photos in Friends contest now on display at Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve
Kristina Mintz takes Grand Prize for alligator photo, 'The Apple of My Eye'
Local residents and tourists have something new to see when visiting Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve: 28 photos that won awards in the 2026 Friends Photo Contest are now on display in the Slough’s Interpretive Center.
A total of 277 photos were submitted by 99 different people with 28 photos receiving honors.
The winning photos in each category:
• Grand Prize: Kristina Mintz
• Animals: Linda Normoyle
• Birds: Jason Walsh
• Plants and Landscapes: Linda Normoyle
• Youth: Eli Greenfield
• Staff: Sara Maliva
The best of those photos almost never occurred. Mintz thought about skipping a trip to the Slough last September because thunderstorms were in the forecast. But she braved the weather and came upon a scene that proved quite rewarding.
Her photo of a baby alligator resting on its mother’s head is the Grand Prize winner in the 2026 Friends of Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve Photo Contest honoring Carolyn Babb.
Mintz, a fifth-grade teacher at Heights Elementary School in Fort Myers, also won the Grand Prize in the 2025 photo contest. In addition to this year’s top honors, she won second place in the animal category and received an honorable mention in the bird category.
This year’s Grand Prize photo is titled “The Apple of My Eye.”
“I was able to take some photos of the baby on mom before it started raining and the baby went back into the water,” Mintz said. “It was very cloudy and dark so the light was challenging.”
In addition to the Grand Prize winner, first, second- and third-place, and honorable mention awards are given in five different categories: Animals, Birds, Plants & Landscapes, Youth, and Staff. The winners were unveiled Feb. 22 during a ceremony at the multipurpose room in the Interpretive Center.
Twenty-five youths (ages 17 and under) entered the contest. The youngest to be honored is 12-year-old Kymani Myrie, who took his honorable mention photo of zebra longwing butterfly caterpillars while attending one of the Slough’s summer camps.
The photo contest honors Carolyn Babb, who died in December 2023. She served seven years as president of the Friends Board, the longest tenure of any president. The contest has been held annually since Babb founded it in 2010. It is conducted by the Friends, the nonprofit that supports the Slough’s staff, volunteers and mission.
The winning photos are posted on the Friends website, www.sloughpreserve.org, and can be viewed in person in the Interpretive Center for a year, until the 2027 winners are unveiled. The center is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. every day except Mondays. Admission to the center and the boardwalk is free with paid parking, which is $1 an hour or $5 for an entire day.
Serving as judges this year were Friends members and photographers Jason Boeckman, Carol Matthai, and Jose V. Padilla-Lopez, Friends President Nancy Olson, and Fort Myers News-Press photojournalist Andrew West. For the 10th straight year, the contest was run by Friends Board member Sabine Vandenhende.
“The Slough has been my happy place for so many years,” Mintz said. “It was where I first became interested in photography, where I took my first photos with my first camera.
“I share my photos from my weekend adventures there with my students and try to inspire them to put away their screens and get out in nature,” Mintz continued. “The best part about the Slough is the people though. I have met, and continue to meet so many amazing people there.”
The judges noted that her winning photo “is a classic example of what many visitors to Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve come to observe.”
Here’s a list of the photographers whose entries were recognized by the judges. An asterisk (*) denotes that the photo was selected to appear as a postcard, and a double asterisk (**) denotes a photo selected to appear as a sticker. The postcards and stickers are available for purchase in the Friends Corner nature store in the Interpretive Center.
Grand Prize
Kristina Mintz*
Animals
1st Place: Linda Normoyle
2nd Place: Kristina Mintz
3rd Place: Debbie Guadagnino
Honorable Mention: Christian Rehm
Honorable Mention: John Cao**
Birds
1st Place: Jason Walsh
2nd Place: Cathy Webb**
3rd Place: Thomas Lonergan
Honorable Mention: Jason Walsh*/**
Honorable Mention: Kristina Mintz*
Honorable Mention: Jemetta Hunt
Honorable Mention: Eliannis Santiesteban
Plants and Landscapes
1st Place: Linda Normoyle
2nd Place: Fred Borgianini
3rd Place: Jeremy Greenfield
Youth
1st Place: Eli Greenfield
2nd Place: Bear Tortorello
3rd Place: Eli Greenfield
Honorable Mention: Bear Tortorello
Honorable Mention: Kymani Myrie
Staff
1st Place: Sara Maliva
2nd Place: Sabine Vandenhende
3rd Place: Gerald Thompson
Honorable Mention: Sabine Vandenhende
Honorable Mention: William Greene
Additional Postcards
Ann Reilly*/**
Larry Czerwinski*
Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve has more than 3,500 acres of wetland ecosystem, with a boardwalk trail and Interpretive Center. Animals like otters, alligators, turtles, wading birds, and more live at the Slough year-round. Others, like migrating birds and butterflies, use the Slough as a feeding area or a winter home. The Slough is managed by the Lee County Department of Parks and Recreation.
Source: Friends of the Slough