The U.S. Administration on Aging Announces the Winners of the 2005 Older Americans Month National Photo & Essay Contest - U.S. Senior Citizens Use Photography as a Tool to “Celebrate Long-Term Living”

Department of Health and Human Services
Administration on Aging

For Immediate Release
Monday, May 23, 2005

Contact: AoA Press Office
202-357-3507

WASHINGTON, DC —The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Administration on Aging (AoA) is proud to announce the winners of the 2005 Older Americans Month National Photo & Essay Contest. President George W. Bush has designated May as “Older Americans Month,” and the National Photo & Essay Contest was developed to use pictures as a medium to enhance the image of older Americans to all generations.

Senior citizens from across the nation submitted photographs and brief essays through their local senior center representatives illustrating the 2005 Older Americans Month Theme “Celebrate Long-Term Living!”

The 2005 Older Americans Month National Photo Contest winners are:

First Place:
Shari Augins, Focus on Senior Citizens Center, Tuscaloosa, AL

Second Place:
Jerrie Ahrens, Monticello Senior Center, Monticello, MN

Third Place:
Erva Gene DeAragon, St. Francis Senior Center, St. Francis, KS

Honorable Mention:
Joan S. Miller, The Hyde Park Friendship Center, Hyde Park, NY

Honorable Mention:
Carolyn Hemphill, Geraldine Senior Center, Geraldine, AL

“We are pleased to honor today the winners of this year’s photo and essay contest,” said HHS Assistant Secretary on Aging Josefina G. Carbonell. “We encourage all Americans to highlight and promote the value of our country’s elderly.”

AoA established this national program in partnership with the Employee Benefit Research Institute and its American Savings Education Council, and the National Institute of Senior Centers, a program of the National Council on the Aging the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI).

“EBRI is proud to have participated in this year’s Older Americans Month event,” said Dallas Salisbury, president and CEO of EBRI. “With or without a prize, every photo and essay is a winner because it shows the spirit and creativity of America’s older citizens. EBRI congratulates all of the participants in the Administration on Aging National Photo & Essay Contest.”

An awards ceremony to honor the contest winners will be hosted by Senators Gordon H. Smith and Herbert Kohl on Monday, May 23, 2005, from 5:30–7:30 p.m. at the Dirksen Senate Office, Room 106.

All photographs submitted for the contest will be on display in a “virtual art gallery” on AoA’s Web site at located here.

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The AoA is a Federal agency dedicated to policy development, planning and the delivery of supportive home and community-based services to older persons and their caregivers through the national aging network of state and local agencies on aging, tribal organizations, service providers and volunteers.

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