Iconic Colorado finalists speak with DMV; voting ends Feb. 5
LAKEWOOD Friday Jan. 29 -- After five days of voting, more than 7,000 Coloradans have voiced their choice in the Iconic Colorado contest, but there’s still seven days left to help decide which designs are Iconic enough to be on the next driver license.
Voting in the Colorado Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV) contest is now underway at dmv.colorado.gov/iconic-colorado and will be open until Feb. 5. Coloradans will be able to choose front and back designs from three options each.
As it currently stands at the time of this release, Mount Sneffels is leading for the front choice at 48.57% of the vote with the Maroon Bells tallying 36.5% and Black Canyon with 14.94%. Bison on the Plains is currently leading the back choices with 34.48% of the votes, as Sprague Lake and Shrine Ridge Trail follow at 33.88% and 31.63%, respectively.
Over 400 entries were submitted by more than 100 talented Coloradans, including finalists Matt Nunez, Fred Lord, Jenn Cunningham and Gabriel Dupon.
The winner for each side will receive a $500 grant each, thanks to Colorado Creative Industries, a division of Colorado’s Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT), which partnered with the DMV to help promote the contest.
After the votes have been tallied, Gov. Jared Polis and the DMV will unveil the chosen design.
The Iconic Colorado contest launched Aug. 17 with the goal of transforming Colorado’s driver licenses into the most beautiful in the world and closed with 407 submissions (280 front-side entries, 127 back-side entries) from 119 entrants.
The finalists were selected by a committee that included motor vehicle administrators, artists and Gov. Polis. with a final, public vote on the top three designs. Coloradans should visit dmv.colorado.gov/iconic-colorado for more information. New identification credentials are expected to launch in the fall of 2021.
Get to know the Iconic Colorado finalists!
- Finalist interviews B-roll
About the finalists
- Matt Nunez
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Matt Nunez is a fifth-generation Coloradan from Colorado Springs, currently living and working in Glenwood Springs. He is proud to come from a long line of family members in military and government service, including his late grandfather, Joe Nunez, who came to Colorado as a child and served in the State legislature representing Douglas County. Matt was raised in a military family, spending his childhood abroad and across the U.S., before returning to Colorado after college. He has taken photos since high school and quickly took up landscape photography as his focus after spending summers here while in college. Matt works full time as an economic development professional for the city of Glenwood Springs, and is passionate about building more vibrant Colorado communities while showcasing them through photographs in his free time.
Matt's work can be found on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
- Jenn Cunningham
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Jenn Cunningham, of Morrison, Colorado, is a fine artist who typically works in acrylics. She is inspired by the wonders of nature and wonderful animals. Jenn's submission is all the things she loves about the plains. "I wanted to give some love to the other half of Colorado! Rolling prairie, spectacular thunderstorms, and the bison are the spirit of it all," she said.
- Gabriel Dupon
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Gabriel Dupon is a Colorado native who loves to be creative and make the unknown into extraordinary. One way he does this, is by taking pictures of the beauty that surrounds him and be able to inspire others with his work in ways that can’t be described! Currently, Gabriel runs his own photography business focusing on portrait and event photography. Many of the things that Gabriel enjoys other than photography, includes adventuring, alpine skiing, cycling, rock climbing and
being creative in any way possible!
- Fred Lord
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Fred Lord is a long-time resident of Colorado. From the age of twelve, he developed an early love of photography, mostly of landscapes and nature, packing along a 35mm rangefinder camera during parts of his youth. Following the reception of an Associate of Commercial Art degree from Denver Community College, he worked in the advertising and promotion arenas for several years.
After working for several television stations in the Denver area, he struck out on his own as a commercial photographer specializing in the areas of television promotion and architectural photography. In 2003, he and his wife moved into their new townhouse in Summit County to pursue their dream of living high in the Colorado Rockies.
His long-time interest in nature and landscape photography reasserted itself and, with a new commitment to photography, he again struck out on his own with the intent of honing his photographic skills to an even finer edge. Fred shoots with high-end Canon digital-capture cameras. His main interests are in making archival fine art prints on the most current gicleé printers. He hopes to continually develop his
photography and printing skills, especially as they might be applied to displaying the extraordinary beauty of nature and her creatures.After 14 years of mountain living, Fred and his wife have retired to Fort Collins to enjoy the landscapes and wildlife of Northern Colorado.
