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.