The Forest Preserve District has announced the winners of the annual Fish Tales Photo Contest at Hidden Lakes Trout Farm in Bolingbrook and Monee Reservoir in Monee Township. 

Three winners were chosen at random after participants submitted photos of their catches. One staff pick photo also was chosen as a winner.

The Hidden Lakes winners are: 

• Addie Cervantes of Downers Grove, 21-inch catfish
• Nolan Fraga of Bolingbrook, panfish (bluegill).

The Monee Reservoir winners are: 

• Zander Litwin of Joliet, 15.5-inch largemouth bass
• Mario Tello of Steger, 4.5-inch sunfish, staff pick. 

This is the second year for the Fish Tales contest, which encourages people to capture photos of their fish to make their outing even more special.

“We set this program up to give the public the freedom and ability to enter when they want to come out and enjoy their time,” said Jason Stevenson, facility concessions manager at Monee Reservoir. “This is the second year for the contest but the first year it was held at two locations.”

Choosing a staff pick photo was extremely difficult this year, he added. 

“The standard we set for the staff pick is to look for pictures that obviously show people enjoying themselves and having fun," Stevenson explained. “A good majority of our entries this year were kids. We had a fairly even number of entries from the two locations."

Stevenson said it's fun to review the photos to see so many smiling anglers.

"I love this program," he said. "These picture are what I like to show when we get the people who say there are no fish in these lakes!”

The contest was offered from July 1 through Aug. 31. Each winner will receive a $50 Forest Preserve gift card.