Fort St. John locals all progress to next round in Inked Originals tattoo contest

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — Three people from Fort St. John are in the running for the quarter finals of Inked Originals’ tattoo contest.

The ‘Tell Your Story in Ink’ competition allows participants to show off their body art and voters to choose the best one.

The winner will receive $25,000, get a tattoo session with Inked Originals tattoo artist Bang Bang and be featured in Inked magazine.

The current voting round will reduce each group to its top five competitors. 

Amber Lindley, a director with the Fort St. John Women’s Resource Society who was named Co-op Community Champion in December 2022, is currently ranked ninth in her group. 

Lindley entered the contest after seeing it on her Facebook feed.

“I figured that was kind of karma telling me that I needed to do that,” said Lindley.

Her tattoos include a fairy designed by her mother, which she got many years ago but recently added to. 

“My mom’s a beautiful artist,” said Lindley.

“It’s a fairy and then I had dandelion stem added to it, because I look at a dandelion and I don’t see 1,000 weeds, I see 1,000 wishes.”

Her other tattoos include the words ‘finish’ and ‘don’t die’ on her feet in her niece’s and nephew’s handwriting, a dragon and unicorn with her best friend and a leopard that represents her alter ego.

“That’s like my upbringing, we lived on a farm and those were just super important things,” said Lindley.

If she wins the Inked Originals contest, Lindley plans to use the free tattoo session to get a unicorn on her rib cage to honour her late father. 

The tattoo would have the word ‘unique’ included, matching her father’s handwriting. 

“My dad always told me that I was unique and could do anything I put my mind to… so that’s how I approach life,” said Lindley.

Lindley would donate the $25,000 to her father’s Northern Lights College memorial scholarship fund for heavy-duty mechanics. 

Meanwhile, two other Fort St. John people are in the running for the Inked Originals competition. Kyle Monteith entered the contest with tattoos that honour his father, who passed away due to substance abuse in 2016, and Mitch Shyanne is currently ranked first in his group.

According to his Inked Originals profile page, Shyanne got his most recent tattoo to serve as a reminder of how profoundly a person can change.

“It’s been layered, demanding and relentless at times. I’ve carried the weight, experiences and transformations of at least five lives within my own,” said Shyanne, who said he would invest the prize money back into his gym in Fort St. John. 

This round of the competition will end on June 5th. Voting and additional information can be found here.