Submissions open August 4 - September 1, 2025

Submit Your Photo Here

We’re looking for your very best photos of northern Minnesota’s landscapes, close-ups of plants, insects, birds, and other wildlife.

Winning photos are featured in our annual wall calendar and on our social media accounts. Winning photographers will receive 3 copies of the calendar as well as a prize package. Grand prize winner will receive 3 copies of the calendar as well as a GoPro 12.

Submissions Accepted: August 4 – September 1, 2025
Winners Announced: October 1, 2025

Submission Requirements

Photos for the 2025 contest must be submitted via the online account between August 1 and September 1, 2025, and meet all the following requirements:

  • Each photographer may submit up to three photos. Please note that drone photos will not be accepted.
  • All photographs must be taken in northern Minnesota
  • Photographs must be in a digital format such as JPEG or PNG at a minimum resolution of 3600 x 2700 pixels at 300 dpi at time of submission.
  • Each photo must include the location and approximate date.
  • Photos must be free of watermarks and graphics. (All photographers will be credited appropriately.)
  • Photos included in the calendar will be horizontal (vertical photos should be cropped before submitting).
  • Photos that do not meet all requirements will not be reviewed by the judging panel.
  • Though not required, best efforts should be made to identify plants or wildlife in your photos—please include this information if applicable, e.g., a turkey vulture taking flight at sunrise.
  • Please keep a safe distance and do not disturb wildlife when taking photos.

General Rules

By submitting your photos, you are confirming that the photos are your own work and you own the rights to distribute the images.

Photos should feature northern Minnesota landscapes, close-ups of plants, insects, birds and other wildlife, and pictures that highlight the seasons.

Photographers must obtain and supply, upon request, the name of and written permission from any person included in the photo entries, authorizing their image to be used in Cook Hospital & Care Center digital and/or print materials. (Entries of people for whom you are not able to supply the appropriate written releases will be disqualified.)

Photos including nudity, profanity, commercial or political interests, graffiti, or anything wildly off-topic are strictly prohibited. Cook Hospital & Care Center reserves the right to disqualify any photos that are deemed inappropriate.

Deadlines

  • August 4 to September 1, 2025 – Submission period via online form.
  • Fall 2025 – Winners and runners-up announced via email; photo album posted on the Cook Hospital & Care Center official Facebook account.
  • Cook Hospital & Care Center reserves the right to adjust any deadline(s) as the result of causes beyond its immediate control.

Winning Photos & Judging Process

Winning photos will be featured in the annual wall calendar and on Cook Hospital & Care Center social media accounts. Each winning photographer will receive 3 copies of the calendar. One grand prize winner will be chosen to be featured on the cover of the calendar and also receive a GoPro 12

Cook Hospital & Care Center uses blind judging to select the contest winners. This means judges do not know the names of the photographers when deciding winning images. Cook Hospital & Care Center shall determine winner eligibility in its sole and absolute discretion. All decisions made by the judging panel are final.

The Cook Hospital & Care Center judging panel will select the contest winners and runners-up. Thirteen winners will be chosen by the panel:

  • 1 calendar cover photo
  • 12 featured month photos

The panel will also select up to 24 runner-up photos that may be featured on Cook Hospital & Care Center social media accounts, and on the Cook Hospital & Care Center website.

Cook Hospital & Care Center staff may participate in the staff photo contest. Members of the Cook Hospital & Care Center judging panel are not eligible to submit entries to the staff contest.

Please note: Winning photos may be cropped to fit the format of the calendar.

Photo Rights

Photographers retain all rights to photo entries. However, by submitting photos for contest entry, Cook Hospital & Care Center is automatically granted a royalty-free, nonexclusive, worldwide, irrevocable right, in perpetuity, to:

Publish, distribute, and otherwise use the submitted photos in any way, in whole or in part, in any format or media, now existing or later developed, for any lawful purpose, including, without limitation, using the submitted photo in its annual wall calendar, on its website, in connection with the photo contest, in connection with general marketing and promotional activities, and on its social media pages.

As a condition of this permission, Cook Hospital & Care Center shall credit all photos with the name of the photographer.

If you have any questions, please contact: marketing@cookhospital.org

About Amy Kemp, OTR/L, Occupation Therapy Supervisor

Amy graduated from St. Scholastica in 2017 with a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology.  She then went on to graduate again from St. Scholastica in 2020 with her Master of Science in Occupational Therapy degree.  After graduation, she began working at the Cook Hospital and has been here for 4 years.

She enjoys having the opportunity that rural health provides to work with individuals across the lifespan.  Since starting at the Cook Hospital, Amy has become a Certified Lymphedema Therapist (CLT) and has been certified in LSVT-BIG for Parkinson’s Disease and other populations.  

In her free time, Amy enjoys the outdoors, being at the lake, reading, and spending time with her family. She is looking forward to continuing her career here at the Cook Hospital and welcomes all new patients.

 

About Carrie Rahikainen, PTA/L

Carrie is a 1992 graduate of the College of St. Scholastica where she earned her Bachelor’s  degree in Natural Science and minor in Psychology.  She continued her education at Lake Superior College where she earned her A.A.S. degree as a Physical Therapist Assistant in 1996. 

For the first four years after obtaining her degrees, Carrie and her husband lived and worked in Wausau, WI.  While in Wausau, she worked in various units specializing in long-term care, out-patient Orthopedics, in-patient and out-patient Psychology, specialized Dementia and Alzheimer’s units, and an Early Intervention/Pediatric Program. 

They then returned to the Iron Range, where both she and her husband were born and raised.  When returning to the area, Carrie was employed by St. Louis County Schools/Northland Special Education Cooperative.  For six years, she provided physical therapy services in various independent school districts, working with children from birth through the age of 21.

In February, 2006 she began her employment at the Cook Hospital and Rehabilitation and is a full-time employee.  Since starting her position at the Cook Hospital, she has been expanding her Physical Therapy skills by attending a variety of courses focusing on such things as Strain-Counter-strain Technique for pain management, Vestibular Rehabilitation, Therapeutic Exercise for the Geriatric Spine,  Manual treatment of the Lumbar Spine, and Kinesio-taping.

Carrie lives in Britt with her husband and three children, ages nine, ten, and twelve.  In her free time, she enjoys cross country skiing, reading, and supporting her children with their extra-curricular activities such as volleyball, basketball, baseball and Scouting.  As a family, they enjoy spending time on their pontoon boat, camping, hunting, and various types of fishing.

 

About Brian McCarthy, PT

Brian began working in Physical Therapy in 1984 as an enlisted member of the U.S. Air Force. After an honorable discharge in 1988 returned to Duluth, MN where he attended ST. Scholastica and eventually PT school at the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse where he graduated in 1993 with honors.

He then began work as a PT at St. Mary’s “Center Therapy” in Duluth in Occupational Medicine, Chronic Pain Management, Orthopedic-Spine, and the Adult Neuro-Rehab departments. In 1996, Brian began working as a contract therapist traveling within the Northern Midwest. During this time he worked in home care, private practice, and out-patient orthopedic settings. His last assignment in 1998 lead him to Cook where he continues to work as the Director of Rehabilitation and physical therapist.

Brian’s career goals are to be well-rounded in all areas of physical therapy, but is especially interested in manual therapy techniques related to orthopedics conditions and wound care interventions. Brian is an active member of the American Physical Therapy Association, National Ski Patrol, and hospitals wound care team. Brian has attended, and continues to attend, yearly continuing education in the field of Physical Therapy and wound care to bring the most current and up-to-date treatment methodologies to the patients he treats.

About Stephanie Elling, PT, DPT, CIMT

Stephanie graduated from The College of St. Scholastica in 2013 with a Bachelor’s degree in Exercise Physiology and again in 2016 with a Doctorate degree in Physical Therapy.

After graduation she worked at a private practice in Cloquet, MN in outpatient orthopedics for over two years. Here she gained experience in post-surgical care, manual therapy, return to sport training, and aquatic rehab. Then she transitioned into travel therapy and completed contracts across Minnesota, Wisconsin and Florida in skilled nursing, memory care, pediatrics, acute care at critical access hospitals, and multiple outpatient clinics treating a wide range of orthopedic and neurological conditions.

Stephanie has additional training in TMJ, headaches, sports rehab, dementia care, pediatrics, kinesiotape and manual therapy techniques. Stephanie has a passion for rural healthcare and enjoys working with patients of all ages and diagnoses.

She is excited to join the rehabilitation team at Cook Hospital and looks forward to getting to serve to Cook community and surrounding areas.