Federal Duck Stamp Competition Rocked By Controversy: Here’s Why Some People Are Furious

The Federal Duck Stamp contest is serious business. Thousands of artists submit original paintings each year vying for the chance to have their duck artwork selected as the next year’s Federal Duck Stamp.

In the final round of voting, judges do not know who the artist is and the voting is quasi-anonymous. I say ‘quasi’ there for reasons we will get to below. But the first Federal Duck Stamp came to exist after President Herbert Hoover signed the Migratory Bird Conservation Act in 1929 and the first Duck Stamp was issued in 1934.

There has been a new Federal Duck Stamp issued each year since but this year there is controversy, as many believe (1) other stamps deserved to win, (2) the judges are unfairly impacted by the competitor’s styles, and most importantly, (3) everyone is tired of the same three brothers winning it all.

New Federal Duck Stamp Contest Ends In Controversy

The winner of this year’s contest, for the 2026 Federal Duck Stamp, was artist James Hautman. This is his 7th time winning the Duck Stamp contest. He won it all in 1990, 1995, 1999, 2011, 2017, 2022, and 2026. Those gaps in the years are because once you win you must wait three years before submitting a new design.

James ‘Jim’ Hautman’s brothers have also won the duck stamp contest numerous times. Joseph ‘Joe’ Hautman won it in 1997, 2002, 2008, 2012, 2016, and 2023. The third brother, Robert Hautman, won the Federal Duck Stamp Contest in 1997, 2001, and 2018.

That is 16 wins for these three brothers since 1990!

What’s up with that?

To be clear, their paintings of ducks are incredible. They are wholly deserving of winning. But the controversy surrounding yet another Hautman brother win is because they have dominated the duck painting world for so long that the enter competition is influenced by their style.

Any artists seeking to break from the mold set by the Hautman brothers seem to be unfairly punished for not floating the mainstream.

A TikTok video from Kira Sabin (@KiraSabin) breaks all of this down perfectly. The video even tosses in how these brothers are so prolific in the Federal Duck Stamp contest they got a shout out in the movie Fargo.

As pointed out by Kira, after Robert Hautman’s record-setting 7th Duck Stamp win people are (1) calling for the three Hautman brothers to retire and (2) limiting the total number of times an individual can win. Kira disagrees with this take, and the additional assertion that the brothers should retire to become judges.

Sabin is qualified to speak on this. Kira won the first-ever People’s Choice Award this year for her submission (Entry 271).

She points out that the runner-up in the People’s Choice Award, which was influenced by her social media followers, came from Robert ‘Bob’ Hautman. So the judges and the fans agreed that a Hautman Brother design should have won this year.

How it all works

There are new judges each year. The voting is ‘anonymous’ so the judges don’t know who painted each duck in the Federal Duck Stamp contest. However, she agrees that “a lot of people” who enter the competition could easily identify a Hautman brother duck painting just by seeing it.

They have a distinct style among the three brothers. And that style has impacted the competition in a way that judges almost believe the Hautman brothers’ style itself is what signifies a quality duck painting. So in order for an outsider to win they almost need to emulate that style these days because the Hautmans dominate the competition since the 1990s.

Diving into the comments on TikTok, many agree that this is “extremely frustrating” but nobody goes as far as to say it is rigged. The competition, to be clear, is not rigged. It is just biased. Anotehr video echoes more of the same:

For those wondering, this Hautman brother has won the competition more times than the mallard! The mallard has been the winning duck on the stamp 6 times to his 7 wins. The 2026 winner, a Bufflehead, can be seen above.

At this point, it seems like there is no reason to believe rule changes are coming. But the frustrations will remain from the thousands of competitors until the Hautman brothers either transition to becoming judges or someone at U.S. Fish and Wildlife takes an interest in this.

Ultimately, in America, we don’t punish winners for winning within the rules. I see no reason these brothers should need to step down from their decades of domination. But what do you all think about this year’s controversy? Let me know in the Facebook comments.