FeaFeature - 1st place - Columbus firefighter Tom Lacey catches his breath and gives his son Connor Lacey a hug after they both completed climbing the 40 floors in the Rhodes Tower during the annual Fight for Air Climb which benefits the American Lung Association. (Eric Albrecht / The Columbus Dispatch)
Feature - 2nd place - A person takes the stairs past the "Owens Rings", a suspended glass sculpture by artist Ray King, in the rotunda of the Center for Fine and Performing Arts at Owens Community College in Perrysburg. (Jeremy Wadsworth / The Blade)
Feature - 3rd place - "Harold," a 30 foot tall snowman filled with Christmas trees and notes of personal disappointments is set ablaze during the third annual Burning Snowman Festival in Port Clinton. (Molly Corfman / The News-Messenger)
Feature - HM - After judge Eileen Paley (hidden) married Dawn King and Teaurean Miles on Valentines Day the newlyweds kiss. This was the second time this couple was married in the past year. They were married in June but didn't file the paperwork in time. This time the paper work was done correctly and they are now "officially married." (Fred Squillante / The Columbus Dispatch)
General News - 1st place - Kiana Shakeri, 1, is reunited with her dad, Morteza Shakeri, of Stow at Akron-Canton Airport. Shakeri's family was detained in Canada after the President's executive order banning travel to the US from seven predominantly Muslim countries for 90 days. A federal court judge blocked the ban creating a temporary window that allowed his wife and child to get home. (Leah Klafczynski / Akron Beacon Journal)
General News - 2nd place - Ron Stout bows his head in a moment of silence after receiving his uncle's lost Purple Heart during a ceremony at the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Library and Museums in Fremont. Cpl. Richard Stout was killed in action on March 23, 1952, in North Korea. (Jeremy Wadsworth / The Blade)
General News - 3rd place - Kimyata Cooper III, 7, of Akron performs a dramatic reading of excerpts from Dr. Martin Luther King's speech, "I Have A Dream," during the program "Expressions of Dr. King" presented by the Akron NAACP at the Miller South School for the Visual & Performing Arts in Akron. (Karen Schiely / Akron Beacon Journal)
General News - HM - Leaders of diverse faiths including Islam, Christianity, and Buddhism lay hands next to each other as a sign of unity during a rally at The Grape Leaf Diner in Holland, Ohio. The rally was in response to the President Donald Trump's travel ban. (Jeremy Wadsworth / The Blade)
Portrait - 1st place - Sculptor Omar Shaheed poses with his sculpture, "Faces in the Crowd" in his backyard. After the fairly recent deaths of artists Aminah Robinson and Kojo Kamau, Omar is one of the leading black artists in central Ohio. (Fred Squillante / The Columbus Dispatch)
Portrait - 2nd place - Jim Granner, 91, works on fishing reels in his Point Place, Toledo home. Granner does most of the repairs for Bass Pro's rod & reel donation program. He fixes the equipment and his sportsman's club donates the fishing gear to the needy. (Andy Morrison / The Blade)
Portrait - 3rd place - Charles Dean, owner of Unique Furnishings Plus in the Southern Village shopping center, is reflected in a three way mirror as he unfolds it. Dean is moving his business to the old Elder Beerman location in the Upper Valley Mall. (Bill Lackey / Springfield News-Sun)
Portrait - HM - Austin Brizee, a trumpet player in the Ohio State marching band recently kicked a 55-yard field goal in an Ohio State practice and earned a tryout with the football team. (Kyle Robertson / The Columbus Dispatch)
Portrait - HM - Jonathan Martin, 28, of Fremont tried to kill himself by pill overdose when he was a teenager. He said he has had times of severe depression throughout his life. People who attempted suicide often are too ashamed to tell their loved ones and friends, he said. “Yeah, we all might go to church together. Yeah, we can laugh. But are you that confidant that I can put my trust in and tell you that I wanted to cut my wrists last night?" he said. (Molly Corfman / The News-Messenger)
SPSports Feature - 1st place - Columbus Blue Jackets right wing Cam Atkinson takes a break with his dog, Easton, a three-year-old Pomeranian mix, during the Blue Jackets' outdoor practice at the Columbus Blue Jackets Winter Park in McFerson Commons in Columbus. (Joshua A. Bickel / The Columbus Dispatch)
Sports Feature - 2nd place - Northland cheerleaders dodge a loose ball during the girls' City League championship game at South High School. (Fred Squillante / The Columbus Dispatch)
Sports Feature - 3rd place - Dayton's Kyle Davis and Kendall Pollard celebrate a 90-53 victory over Duquesne at UD Arena. (Erik Schelkun / Elsestar Images)
SPSports Feature - HM - Worthington Kilbourne's Brian Turner prepares to enter his 285-pound weight class match during a dual meet against Thomas Worthington at Worthington Kilbourne High School. Turner won his match via forfeit. (Shane Flanigan / ThisWeek Community News)
Spot News - 1st place - The driver of a Clark County Veterans Services transport van lies on the ground as emergency crews remove one of the van's passengers after a sedan struck the van in the rear as it was turning the Edgewood Mobile Home Park on Dayton Road. (Bill Lackey / Springfield News-Sun)
Spot News - 2nd place - Officer Andy Scott, of the Springfield Police Division, gets a hug from a family member of an accident victim on the scene of a two vehicle accident on North Limestone Street. (Bill Lackey / Springfield News-Sun)
Spot News - 3rd place - While East Palestine Fire Capt. Josh Foster keeps searching for the source of the continuously smoldering material, Assistant Fire Chief Tim Griffith (right) keeps an eye on the garage area. (Patrica Schaeffer / The (Lisbon) Morning Journal)
Sports - 1st place - Kalamazoo Wings player Scott Hangar (17) whacks Toledo Walleye player Tylor Spink (24) with his stick during their game at the Huntington Center in Toledo. No penalty was called on the play. (Andy Morrison / The Blade)
Sports - 2nd place - Bethany Berger of Glen Este competes during the Division I state diving championships at C.T. Branin Natatorium in Canton. (Barbara J. Perenic/Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch)
SPSports - 3rd place - Newark Catholic's J.T. Brown slams St. Charles' Troy Hungerford to the mat in the 138-pound weight class match at Bexley High School. (Shane Flanigan / ThisWeek Community News)
SPSports - HM - Newark's Tyler Dickerson upends Hilliard's Ty Spangler during a game att Lou & Gib Reese Ice Arena in Newark. (Shane Flanigan / ThisWeek Community News)
MTStory - 1st place - John holds back tears as he hands Ann a thank-you note after meeting her for the first time a couple of days after their surgeries. "Thank you, dear. So much," he said, teary-eyed, as they embraced later during their meeting. "May God bless you the rest of your life." Later, he said he was feeling better than he had in years and that his new kidney was already doing its job. (Joshua A. Bickel / The Columbus Dispatch)
Story - 2nd place - About Billions promoter Ravone Littlejohn separates Robert Easter Jr., Toledo, left, and Luis Cruz, Las Piedras, Puerto Rico, after they weighed in at the Park Inn. The pair were going to fight for Easter Jr.'s IBF World Lightweight boxing title. (Andy Morrison / The Blade)
Story - 3rd place - Nicole Holland, 14, of Fremont almost died from a pill overdose the night after her older sister, Joni, attempted. Her family took her to the hospital after she became sleepy and disoriented to hallucinating and eventually non-responsive. "When I came home from the hospital they had to change the way they were talking to me because they were still making jokes about the same stuff and they weren't careful with how they were judging my decisions," she said. (Molly Corfman / The News-Messenger)
