Feature - 1st placeMore than 400 Kenwood Elementary students stepped up to the plate to throw pies in the face of Principal Vicki Hudepohl and Kenwood student support facilitator Jamie Hood as a reward for winning a reading challenge bet of over 115,000 minutes in a three-week period. (Bill Lackey / Springfield News-Sun)
Feature - 2nd placePaul Kellogg, of Traverse City, Michigan, uses his blanket to shield his candle's flame from blustery winds as he and Jourdan Musnicky (left) light candles in bags outlining the Serpent Mound. People formed a circle for a ceremonial lighting ceremony and lit their candles for the annual "Lighting the Serpent" event at Serpent Mound State Memorial near Peebles, Ohio in Adams County. (Fred Squillante / The Columbus Dispatch)
Feature - 3rd placeFive-year-old Henry Pitts, (right) of Bexley, slows down as he catches a glimpse of Tim Shrewsbery, (left) of Columbus, having a drink at the Cup O' Joe on South Third Street during the Village Lights event in the German Village. Shrewsbery said he comes down to the Cup O' Joe every Sunday and thought it was pretty funny all the attention he was getting as families walked by the coffee shop's windows, some even stopping to pose for photographs. Crowds of people explored the German Village Sunday evening as shops stayed open late and more than 10,000 luminaries snaked around the streets. (Eamon Queeney / The Columbus Dispatch)
Feature - HMA "Flower" waits backstage for her turn during the Nutcracker Dress Rehearsals as performed by BalletMet Columbus at the Ohio Theatre in Columbus. (Brooke LaValley / The Columbus Dispatch)
General News - 1st placeArmy Specialist Damon Haas, (left) of the 403rd Civil Affairs Battalion of Utica, NY, adjusts his brother William Saunders', 10, a member of the Young Marines, rank insignia after placing wreaths to honor fallen soldiers of the Civil War during a Wreaths Across America event. (Thomas Levinson / The Columbus Dispatch)
General News - 2nd placeHusband and wife Mercy Wamwara and Sammy Loonkishu celebrate after both received Bachelor of Science degrees in nursing during Fall Commencement at the Nutter Center. (Barbara J. Perenic / Springfield News-Sun)
General News - 3rd placeLaura Churchman waves to her family and husband after receiving her Bachelor of Science degree in nursing during Fall Commencement at the Nutter Center. (Barbara J. Perenic / Springfield News-Sun)
General News - HM(From left) Muskaan Ali and her sister Hafsa Ali joined Jordan Hamilton and Emran Kabir sitting on the floor of the Greyhound bus station in North Fourth Street after their bus to Indianapolis was cancelled due to severe weather. (Chris Russell / The Columbus Dispatch )
Illustration - 1st placeThis is the La Framboise Fabuleuse, a pastry made by Coquette Patisserie. Britte-Marie Culey is the owner of Coquette Patisserie and creates French-inspired pastries that are very popular around the holidays. ( Lisa DeJong / The Plain Dealer)
Illustration - 2nd placeForever Green vegetable dish at Sesame Sea in Dublin. (Fred Squillante / The Columbus Dispatch)
Illustration - 3rd placeGoat cheese lemon cheesecake with blueberry sauce. It is available at Fat Cats in the Tremont neighborhood. ( Lisa DeJong / The Plain Dealer)
Portrait - 1st placeKaren Tatter, of Sheffield Lake, has recently retired as a childbirth educator at MetroHealth Medical Center. After noticing that that some of the pregnant women at MetroHealth - especially young teens- sometimes lacked support during their labor and delivery. As a result, she decided to create a free doula program offering coaches to help a woman through the birthing process. She also teaches childbirth education in the Cuyahoga County jail to pregnant inmates there. ( Lisa DeJong / The Plain Dealer)
Portrait - 2nd placeDet. Steve Eppert, of the Columbus Police Department, stands in an open area north of the townhouse where Alicia Jackson was stabbed to death. This is near where the police dogs lost the scent of a possible suspect two years ago in a murder that is yet to be solved. (Jonathan Quilter / The Columbus Dispatch)
Portrait - 3rd placeMen's clothier and bow tie aficionado, Gary Jones laughs while he poses for a portrait. (Eamon Queeney / The Columbus Dispatch)
Portrait - HMAdam VanLuit is a senior political science major at Ohio State University and will spend a year after his graduation to raise money in order to attend a law school. (Chris Russell / The Columbus Dispatch )
Portrait - HMOhio State senior Zach Holmes practices at the McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion. The swimmer from Houston swam at the Olympic Trials this past summer in the 100 and 200-meter freestyle events. (Adam Cairns / The Columbus Dispatch)
Sports Feature - 1st placeNewark Catholic head coach Bill Franks speaks to his team after losing to Marion Local on the last play of the game in the Division VI state championship game at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium in Massillon. (Kyle Robertson / The Columbus Dispatch)
Sports Feature - 2nd placeBull, The Harlem Globetrotters 6'4" guard from Detroit, MI, hangs upside down from the home basket and plays pat-a-cake with the referee during the first quarter of play against the Global Select for the world championship at Quicken Loans Arena. For the first time in 87 years, the Globetrotters are letting the fans change the rules. There was one additional rule for each quarter. The first quarter allowed a four-point shot, the second quarter doubled the points for each basket made. ( / The Plain Dealer)
Sports Feature - 3rd placeMatt and Chrissy Jacobs, Carly Willson, and Makenzie Colvin watch as Dublin Jerome's Alex Jacobs and Dublin Coffman's Adnan Mohamud wrestle in the 132lb weight class match during the Battle of Dublin at Jerome. (Lorrie Cecil / ThisWeek Newspapers)
Spot News - 1st placeVillage of Lithopolis mayor Eric Sandine (left) and city administrator Ed VanVickle, (right) work to fix a water-main break in below-freezing temperatures that has cut off water to 600 residents which constitutes about half the village population. This was the second break the pair had to fix in one day on top of being up until 1 am the previous night plowing snow. (Eamon Queeney / The Columbus Dispatch)
Spot News - 2nd placeGerman Township fire fighters battled a house fire on Troy Road. The fire started as the result of unattended food on a stove, according to Fire Chief Tim Holman, with flames fanned by open windows. All residents of the home including renters of an attached apartment vacated safely but the house will most likely be declared a total loss. (Barbara J. Perenic / Springfield News-Sun)
Spot News - 3rd placeMadison Township Fire Chief Bob Bates (right) and another firefighter oversee the scene of a fire that occurred at 48 E. Waterloo St. in Canal Winchester. (Thomas Levinson / The Columbus Dispatch)
Sports - 1st placeMt Union's Shannon Stewart gets upended by Mary Hardin-Baylor's Javicz Jones in the first quarter of their NCAA Division III semi final game with Mary Hardin-Baylor in Alliance. (Scott Heckel / The Repository)
Sports - 2nd placeMt. Union's Nick Driskill can't reach a pass thrown to him by quarterback Kevin Burke during their NCAA Division III semi final game with Mary Hardin-Baylor in Alliance. (Scott Heckel / The Repository)
Sports - 3rd placeWright State's Jerran Young (left) and Miami's Geovonie McKnight, chase a loose ball during a game at the Nutter Center. (Barbara J. Perenic / Springfield News-Sun)
Sports - HMReynoldsburg's Destini Cooper (42) goes for a rebound with teammate Alyssa Rice (45) against Gahanna's Nikki Campbell-Muriente (33) and Chrishna Butler (3) during a game at Gahanna Lincoln High School. (Fred Squillante / The Columbus Dispatch)
Story - 1st placeSculptor Michael Tizzano works on a small scale model of a work that he has been commissioned to create for the plaza at the northwest corner of Bridge and High Streets in Dublin. (Chris Russell / The Columbus Dispatch )
Story - 2nd placeNewark Catholics Ryan Fitzgerald (9) can't come up with the catch against Marion Locals Adam Bertke (11) during the fourth quarter of their Division VI state championship game at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium in Massillon. (Kyle Robertson / The Columbus Dispatch)
Story - 3rd placeBrutus Buckeye body surfs through the student section before in St. John Arena celebrating the Buckeyes undefeated season. (Eric Albrecht / The Columbus Dispatch)
