Feature - 1st place - Toledo police officer Jim Below (right) throws a ball with Demi Johnson, 2, as they take a break from shopping during the annual shopping with heroes event at the Walmart in Spring Meadows Place in Holland. (Rebecca Benson / The Blade)
Feature - 2nd place - Colton Smith, 5, (right) holds streamers from a broken kite in the wind as his dad, Steven Smith Sr., tries to catch a gust of wind with his kite in an empty field on South Hawley Street in Toledo. (Rebecca Benson / The Blade)
Feature - 3rd place - Karl Beem, substitute employee with food services, wraps slices of garlic bread in tin foil for students' hot lunch option at Stevenson Elementary in Grandview Heights. Spacing requirements caused by the pandemic has resulted in students eating lunch in both the cafeteria and gym while no longer lining up for meals. Food services employees set out lunches, which are chosen by students at the beginning of the school day, labeled with each student's name in the cafeteria and outside classrooms to be picked up during lunch hour. (Shane Flanigan / ThisWeek Community News)
Feature - HM - Little Miss Buckeye State Kallie Lewis, 7, (left) adjusts the sash of Little Miss Ohio Addison King, 8, as they get ready in a Mercy Health St. Vincent Medical Center parking garage to deliver the toys at Mercy Children’s Hospital in Toledo. The two young pageant titleholders, both from Toledo, held a toy drive for kids at the hospital culminating in the delivery of over 700 toys. (Kurt Steiss / The Blade)
General News - 1st place - Mark Lockett places a teddy bear on the remains of a burned house for his grandson, 9-year-old Amare Lockett, who died in a house fire on Christmas Eve in Toledo. (Rebecca Benson / The Blade)
General News - 2nd place - 15-year-old Andrew Basnett, from Tippecanoe, works through the first ever "How to Solve a Rubik's Cube Class," held at the Dover Public Library. Basnett, who is homeschooled and hosted the class, was also the first teen presenter at the library, according to the adult program specialist, Sherrel Rieger. Andrew's parents, He currently claims a time of 8.94 seconds to solve the cube. (Andrew Dolph / The Times Reporter)
General News - 3rd place - Matthew Larsen, of Napoleon-based Ice Creations, gets covered in ice as he carves a Christmas tree during the city tree lighting event at Ottawa Park in Toledo. (Kurt Steiss / The Blade)
Illustration - 1st place - Tabouleh at Zaki Mediterranean Grill in Columbus. (Kyle Robertson / The Columbus Dispatch)
Illustration - 2nd place - Pinoy-Style Glazed Ham. (Jeremy Wadsworth / The Blade)
Illustration - 3rd place - Quesadilla at Tic Tac Taco inside Duchess gas station in Grandview. Tic Tac Taco is also in a Duchess gas station in Pataskala. (Kyle Robertson / The Columbus Dispatch)
Portrait - 1st place - Upper Arlington running back Carson Gresock is the 2021 All-Metro offensive player of the year after rushing for over 2,500 yards and breaking school records. He poses for a photo in the weight room at Upper Arlington High School. (Kyle Robertson / The Columbus Dispatch)
Portrait - 2nd place - Christopher and Christian Lett pose for a photo outside of Noir, a new bar they are currently renovating, on the corner of Adams Street and North Superior Street in downtown Toledo. (Rebecca Benson / The Blade)
Portrait - 3rd place - Dr. Bridget Williams poses for a picture at her office in Pickerington. Williams is stepping down as CEO of Cannabis Can, a nonprofit that supports the medicinal marijuana industry in Ohio. (Kyle Robertson / The Columbus Dispatch)
Portrait - HM - Michelle Lea Todd (left) poses for a portrait with Helen Hardy and her husband William in the Hardy residence in Uhrichsville. Todd is a carrier for the Times-Reporter and received a tip from a customer on Thanksgiving which she in turn used to purchase Thanksgiving dinner for the Hardys. (Andrew Dolph / The Times Reporter)
Sports Feature - 1st place - Derek Lonsway, 10, celebrates their victory over Coldwater after their Div VI state championship game at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton. (Scott Heckel / The Canton Repository)
Sports Feature - 2nd place - Former Toledo Walleye player Evan Rankin skates around the Winterfest ice rink with his son, Nash, 3, after a game between the Toledo hockey alumni and the Detroit Red Wings alumni at Fifth Third Field in Toledo. The Toledo team combined alumni from Toledo hockey teams through the years, which included the Goaldiggers, Storm and Walleye. (Kurt Steiss / The Blade)
Sports Feature - 3rd place - The Toledo Walleye celebrates their goal against Cincinnati during the second period of an ECHL hockey game at the Huntington Center in Toledo. (Rebecca Benson / The Blade)
Spot News - 1st place - Mark Yglesias and his daughter McKenzie, 9, walk their dog Sheba past a home at the intersection of Western Avenue and Eldred Avenue that exploded in Toledo. Mr. Yglesias said the explosion shook his nearby home. (Jeremy Wadsworth / The Blade)
Spot News - 2nd place - Firefighters work the scene of a fatal house fire in the 2000 block of Fernwood Avenue in Toledo. (Jeremy Wadsworth / The Blade)
Spot News - 3rd place - A firefighter is seen through a window on a burnt section of the apartment while working on the scene of a fire at the Regina Manor Apartments in Toledo. No occupant injuries were reported and all those inside were either able to get out on their own or were evacuated by firefighters, according to Toledo Fire and Rescue spokesman Pvt. Sterling Rahe. There was one minor firefighter injury reported. (Kurt Steiss / The Blade)
Sports - 1st place - Cleveland Browns defensive end Jadeveon Clowney (90) sacks Baltimore Ravens backup quarterback Tyler Huntley (2) during the fourth quarter of a game at FirstEnergy Stadium in Cleveland. (Jeff Lange / Akron Beacon Journal)
Sports - 2nd place - Toledo’s Halle Idowu (left) and St. Francis’ Jada Dapaa reach for a loose ball during a game at the University of Toledo’s Savage Arena. (Rebecca Benson / The Blade)
Sports - 3rd place - Bowling Green State University's Austen Swankler (top) flips over Ohio State's James Marooney at the Slater Family Ice Arena in Bowling Green. (J.D. Pooley / Sentinel-Tribune )
Sports - HM - Dayton's Toumani Camara takes the ball to the hoop against Jordan O'neal of Alabama State. Dayton defeated Alabama State 93-54 at UD Arena. (Erik Schelkun / Elsestar Images)
Story - 1st place - Jim Amer, owner of Amer’s West Hill Marathon, puts air in a customer’s tires in Akron. After more than 70 years, Amer’s West Hill Marathon will close up before becoming Van’s Tire as Jim Amer is retiring. (Jeff Lange / Akron Beacon Journal)
Story - 2nd place - 22,000 bouncy balls are loaded to drop to celebrate New Year's Eve Eve at Imagination Station in Toledo. (Jeremy Wadsworth / The Blade)
Story - 3rd place - Family of Amare Lockett huddle together and console one another during a candle light vigil for 9-year-old Amare Lockett who died in a house fire in Toledo. (Rebecca Benson / The Blade)
