Ross Sukup took a few pictures with his digital Kodak while fishing with a buddy on the backwaters of the Missouri River last summer.

He didn't catch any fish that day, but he got a great picture.

He thought of that picture when he saw a television piece this winter about the new Byways Geopicting Contest sponsored by Nebraska's tourism division.

Participants enter pictures snapped along one of Nebraska's nine scenic byways along with the GPS coordinates of that spot.

Perfect, thought Sukup. He was standing on Nebraska 12, a scenic byway, when he took the picture.

He looked up the GPS coordinates on the Internet, and sent his entry in to what may be the nation's first geopicting contest.

His picture took first place for the winter quarter - selected by people voting at www.visitnebraska.gov. Sukup, who lived in Verdigre when he took the picture but now lives in Omaha, won a $250 gift certificate and a chance to be the annual winner.

The contest combines vacation picture taking with the geocaching concept.

Geocaching is a high-tech treasure hunting game played by people with GPS devices. The basic idea is to find hidden containers called geocaches and then share the experiences online.

Some of the early entries in the state's byways geopicting contest have come from Nebraska's geocaching community, recruited by contest designers to get the new idea off the ground.

Dick Kloke of Harvard, a Nebraska geocaching pioneer, sent in a picture taken at the Indian School in Genoa, just off a Nebraska byway.

Kloke discovered the school while exploring interesting sites where he could place geocaches.

The point of the geopicting contest is to make out-of-the way places accessible, said Sarah Baker, media relations coordinator for the state Division of Travel and Tourism.

The contest goes hand in hand with the tourism division's mantra: Get off Interstate 80 and enjoy the rest of the state, she said.

Although other state tourism divisions use submitted photos, she doesn't know of any state that has meshed the pictures with GPS coordinates.

Geocaching is popular, but geopicting is in its infancy, said Matt Gersib, public relations manager with Snitily Carr. The company is working on the geopicting contest as part of its contract with the state.

Reach Nancy Hicks at 473-7250 or nhicks@journalstar.com.