Visit Lake County Announces its 2022 #LetsGoLakeCounty Photo Contest Winners

By: Jonathan Jones 01/11/2023

The phrase, “take a picture; it’ll last longer,” takes new meaning as you take your impressive imagery of Lake County.

The third installment #LetsSnapLakeCounty Photo Contest ran from mid-September to Halloween. By utilizing our third-party gallery aggregator Crowdriff and the #LetsSnapLakeCounty hashtag, we received 800+ submissions. Continue here to view the 2021 photo contest winners. To see the 2020 winners, click here.

@visitlakecounty Congratulations the #LetsSnapLakeCounty Photo Contest winners! Click the link in the bio to see all of the submissions. #travel #traveltiktok #photography #photocontest #photochallenge ♬ WIN THE DAY - Bamtone

Your friends at the Lake County Convention and Visitor Bureau were astounded by our visitors’ and residents’ photography talent. We asked you to showcase where you live, work, eat, play and shop, and you did not disappoint. The snaps were downright #InstaGood.

The Visit Lake County staff voted on your submissions, and in this announcement, and we will reveal the winners of the following six categories: “Grand Prize Winner,” “Outdoor Photos,” “Family/People Imagery,” “Dining/Libations,” “Lake County Event Photography” and “Other Travel Culture (including architecture, downtown areas, photo manipulation, shopping, drone, etc.) and Video. In this year's edition, there was a tie in the "Outdoor Photos," so there were two winners in the aforementioned category. Visit Lake County would like to thank the winners and those that took the time to enter a submission. Continue scrolling to see our winners.

Honorable Mention

While we loved all of the snaps you submitted, there were a few more sparking lengthy debates to win in several categories. Visit Lake County would like to revisit, highlight and commend those shutterbugs that submitted beautiful and inspiring imagery.

By Caren Valentine at Nippersink Forest Preserve in Round Lake. 

By Kevin McNally at Waukegan Harbor.

By Karen Chin at Libertyville's Duck Donuts. She won the 2020 #LetsSnapLake Photo Contest Family/People Category

By Katherine Rylko on Lake Zurich

By Karen Meracle in Lindenhurst

By Amy Koutsianelos (her daughter) at Captain Daniel Wright Woods in Mettawa. Koutsianelos won the 2021 #LetsSnapLake Photo Contest Family/People Category, with her daughter in the photo as well.

By Andrea Sperling at Illinois Beach State Park in Zion

Winners of the #LetsSnapLakeCounty Photo Contest

Continue scrolling below to view the winners of the #LetsSnapLakeCounty Photo Contest voted on by the Visit Lake County staff. Great job, land of lakes shutterbugs, and keep up the camera snapping work. 

Short Video Winner

By Chris Kelley at the Tighthead Mundelein Grand Prix in downtown Mundelein

Lake County Event Photography Winner

By Robert Dean at Thursday Night Thunder on the Chain at Antioch's Blarney Island

Dining and Libations Imagery Winner

By Jesus Angel Cuezzi at Elawa Farm in Lake Forest

Other Travel Culture Photo Winner

By Heidi Warner at Hiram Buttrick Sawmill in Antioch

Family/People Imagery Winner

By Alex Sabatka at Six Flags Great America in Gurnee

Outdoor Photography Winner (a two-way tie)

By Michael Pawlak at Vernon Hills' Arbortheater inside Century Park

By Wendy Mortenson on Cedar Lake at Lehmann Park in Lake Villa

And your #LetsSnapLakeCounty Photo Contest Grand Prize Winner is…

Grand Prize Winner

By Simon Laufer at Independence Grove Forest Preserve in Libertyville

Thank you again to all of the individuals who submitted imagery for the #LetsSnapLakeCounty Photo Contest. For more information about everything going on in the land of lakes, continue here.