Gretchen Hoffman Glendale resident John Heil had...
Gretchen Hoffman
Glendale resident John Heil had just returned from a hiking trip
through the Colorado Plateau when his company announced a photo
contest for its annual calendar of the country’s national parks.
Heil, an amateur shutterbug, had never entered a contest before,
but judges awarded his photograph of Zion National Park the grand
prize from hundreds of entries.
The winning images are featured in Unilever’s ninth annual
National Parks 2003 calendar -- the first calendar to feature a cover
photo taken by a Unilever employee. It also includes images of
national parks taken by professional outdoor photographers.
Heil, the general manager of Lawry’s Foods Inc. -- a Unilever
division -- won an all-expense-paid trip to Yellowstone with his
family.
“It’s an amazing part of the world,” he said. “Even the photograph
doesn’t do justice to it.”
Unilever, which produces and markets foods and home and personal
care products, is the longest-standing corporate partner of the
National Park Foundation, the official nonprofit partner of the
National Parks Service. In the past five years, the foundation has
raised more than $78 million in support of the country’s 386 national
parks.
“This is some of the most spectacular scenery and vistas,” Heil
said. “It was a great photographic adventure. For me, it was just
good fortune to have returned from one of the great national parks.”
“I’m just a huge fan of the incredible national parks that we have
in this country, and have tried as best as I can to take advantage of
them and see the natural wonders that exist,” he added.
The free calendar is available on a limited basis by mail at
Unilever National Parks 2003 Calendar, P.O. Box 13450, Charleston, SC
29412.