Feature - 1st place - Aaron Wurdack (right), of Columbus, plays handball at Westgate Park . (Eric Albrecht / The Columbus Dispatch)
Feature - 2nd place - Greg Stuart (left) and his twin brother Craig Stuart, of Albion, Michigan, sport the same hat and shirt during the 36th Annual Twins Days Festival in Twinsburg. This is their 8th year of attending the festival. (Lisa DeJong / The Plain Dealer)
Feature - 3rd place - Emily Nelson, of Worthington, reacts to the bubble gum blow up on her glasses at the State Fair Bubble Gum contest . (Eric Albrecht / The Columbus Dispatch)
Feature - HM - Entrepreneurship Preparatory School student Mario Burks, 6, (left) stretches in his chair at the end of the school day as his classmates line up at the door to leave. E-Prep, in Cleveland, is a charter school that gets good academic results. (Lisa DeJong / The Plain Dealer)
General News - 1st place - Alisha Robinson (left) hands Dana, 5, to her mom Mary Robinson so she can put him into the hyperbaric oxygen chamber with Mary's sister Debbie Moon (hand visible) at the Robinson home in Quincy. Through donations the family purchased the chamber for their home replacing their trips to Cincinnati for the same treatment that was not covered by insurance. (Jonathan Quilter / The Columbus Dispatch)
General News - 2nd place - Qwennita Frazier, 22, originally of Memphis, looks at a friend as they called her name outside the Faith Mission shelter on Long Street on Wednesday. She had just finished dinner and will be staying the night at the shelter. (Jonathan Quilter / The Columbus Dispatch)
General News - 3rd place - ROTC crew members Andrew Melnyk (right), of Northwood, Ohio and Nathan Shubick of Columbus clean the bleachers with a blower at Ohio Stadium. (Eric Albrecht / The Columbus Dispatch)
General News - HM - Ohio State football player DeVier Posey arrives at Hyatt Place, the team hotel, where a wall of photographers converged,Sunday August 7, 2011. ( Columbus Dispatch photo by Jeff Hinckley) (Jeff Hinckley / THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH)
General News - HM - Six year old Niko Lanzarotta, the namesake of Team Niko, gets an assist to the finish line from his mom, Kasia (left) and dad, Mike, at the 25th anniversary running of the Cleveland Triathlon. Niko rode in a trailer for the bicycle portion of the race, and in a push cart for the running portion until they neared the finish line, when he got out of the stroller, grabbed on to his walker and raced to the finish. (Lynn Ischay / The Plain Dealer)
Portrait - 1st place - Stephanie Smith Bowman a deaf therapist at Choices counsels deaf clients. (Eric Albrecht / The Columbus Dispatch)
Portrait - 2nd place - Nicole and Brock Trejo with Seattle (left) and Bexley (right) singing Disney songs in a language other than English for the toddlers who are bilingual. (Tom Dodge / The Columbus Dispatch)
Portrait - 3rd place - Kulinda Kifaru, (Swahili for Beautiful Rhino) a 22 year old Black Rhino, has her teeth brushed by Columbus Zoo and Aquarium keeper Aaron Kazmierczak. (Tom Dodge / The Columbus Dispatch)
Portrait - HM - Rodney Eakin, collector and researcher of natural history from Grove City holds up a quartz crystal from Mt. Ida in Arkansas outside the Grove City Town Center. (Neal C. Lauron / The Columbus Dispatch)
Spot News - 1st place - Lillian Bernhagen, 94, who had a the "Hanger(1) Vodka" blimp crash in her back yard overnight. She was home alone when the blimp broke free from its moorings at Don Scott Field and crashed into her house and backyard.ISO 400f/5.6 1/160 sec (Jeff Hinckley / The Columbus Dispatch)
Spot News - 2nd place - A man accused Monday of assaulting his mother so severely that homicide detectives were called in has been apprehended in his own backyard after a night-long search. (Marshall Gorby / Springfield News-Sun)
Spot News - 3rd place - Springfield Police Division responded to the scene of a shooting at 1509 W. Jefferson Street. According to neighbors, the name of the shooter is Matthew Foster and the victim is believed to be his mother, Theresa L. Foster. The victim, whose condition is unknown, was transported to Miami Valley Hospital via medical helicopter. (Barbara J. Perenic / Springfield News-Sun)
Sports - 1st place - Shannon Sharpe wipes away tears after receiving his gold jacket from his brother Sterling at the Pro Football Hall of Fame Festival Enshrinees Dinner at the Memorial Civic Center in Canton. Sterling presented Shannon for induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame the following day. (Scott Heckel / The (Canton) Repository)
Sports - 2nd place - Crew's Sebastian Mirnada (21) and Union's Freddy Adu (11) (Neal C. Lauron / The Columbus Dispatch)
Sports - 3rd place - Christian Morgan, a wide receiver with the Akron Firestone Falcons cheers on the sidelines during their first game of the year against the GlenOak Eagles. (Lisa DeJong / The Plain Dealer)
Sports - HM - Indianapolis Josh Harrison (19) just misses a the ball at third base against the Columbus Clippers during their minor league game at Huntington Park. (Kyle Robertson / The Columbus Dispatch)
Story - 1st place - (Neal C. Lauron / The Columbus Dispatch)
Story - 2nd place - Tommy Heinemann (32) complains about a call and gets issued a yellow card. (Neal C. Lauron / The Columbus Dispatch)
