Feature - 1st place Kelly Helser, art teacher, can't help but laugh as Todd Sautters, social studies teacher, both with Canal Winchester High School, reacts to his bowl losing its shape on a pottery wheel at Canal Winchester High School. CWHS faculty and students are creating ceramic bowls for the Canal Winchester Human Services' SOUPer Bowl fundraiser. Guests who attend the event can enjoy a free lunch of homemade soups and desserts and purchase the ceramic bowls for $10. All proceeds go toward helping the day-to-day operations at Canal Winchester Human Services. (Shane Flanigan / ThisWeek Community News)
Feature - 2nd place Zella Wingfield takes a tumble while sledding during a snowy day off school at Griggs Reservoir. There was no school due to the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. (Adam Cairns / The Columbus Dispatch)
Feature - 3rd place Sidney Baires, 14, gets a touch-up from Nadia Madruga while waiting for her group's routine to begin at the AmeriCheer Buckeye Scarlet and Grey Cheerleading Championship that took place at the Columbus Convention Center. The dancers, from Franklin Square, NY, study at "Miss Edie's Dancin' Feet" Dance school. The competition welcomed dance and cheerleading groups from six states. (Brooke LaValley / The Columbus Dispatch)
General News - 1st place Jennifer Castle (right) can't read her victim impact statement so her fiancé Jason North reads it at the Pickaway County Common Pleas Court in Circleville. Castle's son, 16-year-old Samuel Nicholson II, was shot and killed by Justin Blevins. Blevins was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 37 years. (Kyle Robertson / The Columbus Dispatch)
General News - 2nd place Wildlife Officer Chris Gilkey praises his K-9 partner, Mattis, a year-old German Shepard, after he completed a tracking drill during a demonstration at the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Wildlife District Office in Columbus. The department will train five new dogs for their five wildlife districts. (Joshua A. Bickel / The Columbus Dispatch)
General News - 3rd place “Fairness, justice and equality are exactly what Dr. King dreamed of, and I do, too,” said 2017 statewide MLK Oratorical Contest Primary Division winner Addison Caption of Bedford as he speaks during the 33rd annual Ohio Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemorative Celebration at Trinity Episcopal Church in Columbus. (Kyle Robertson / The Columbus Dispatch)
General News - HM The family of Lt. Charles Shafer along with area officers surround the casket during the funeral ceremony. (Patrica Schaeffer / The (Lisbon) Morning Journal)
Portrait - 1st place Dr. Irina Buhimschi is the director of the Center for Perinatal Research at Nationwide Children's Hospital. Here she poses for a portrait in her lab. Ohio's infant mortality rate is slightly improved, according to newly released federal data but Ohio still ranks 45 in nation with 7.13 of every 100,000 babies dying before their first birthday and a dismal 49th for black infants. (Jonathan Quilter / The Columbus Dispatch)
Portrait - 2nd place Dreamer Nathali Bertran poses for a portrait at Third Way Cafe in Columbus. Bertran emigrated illegally to the United States from Peru with her parents at age nine. The 25-year-old graduated from the City University of New York and is now an engineer at Honda of America. (Joshua A. Bickel / The Columbus Dispatch)
Portrait - 3rd place Todd Younkin is the new director of the Fairfield County Park District. Here he poses for a portrait at Mambourg Lodge within Mambourg Park which is not ready for the public yet. The lodge was constructed in 1931 by Robert Mambourg. It was the family's country retreat on 116 acres of fields, woods and deep ravines. (Jonathan Quilter / The Columbus Dispatch)
Sports Feature - 1st place Fans riding on a float shoot toilet paper toward FirstEnergy Stadium at the Browns Perfect Season Parade in Cleveland. The Browns finished the season with a record of 0-16. (Leah Klafczynski / Akron Beacon Journal)
Sports Feature - 2nd place Ohio State's Kassidy Sauve (32) leads the team into the ice before the start of their game against Penn State at the Ohio State Ice Rink in Columbus. (Kyle Robertson / The Columbus Dispatch)
Sports Feature - 3rd place Carisma Reynoso, 6, of Price Hill, is reflected in St. William School teacher Katie Stevenson's sunglasses as she receives encouragement to make it up a slope during Special Olympics Hamilton County ski training at Perfect North Slopes in Lawrenceburg, Ind. More than 200 Special Olympians from Hamilton County participated in the training, and volunteers lent a helping hand. (Kareem Elgazzar / The Cincinnati Enquirer)
Spot News - 1st place Dawne Williams hugs her daughter Kursten Williams as their barn and part of their home burns in a fire on Scott Road in Swanton. At left is Dawne Williams' grandson Logan Growden. (Jeremy Wadsworth / The Blade)
Spot News - 2nd place An AT&T worker walks through thousands of bushels of corn that covered Ohio 571 when a grain bin at Miami Valley Feed and Grain collapsed in New Carlisle. Over 10 thousand tons of corn flooded the area when the steel container failed, knocking down building and utility poles. Authorities say it could take weeks to clean up the mess and reopen the road. (Bill Lackey / Springfield News-Sun)
Spot News - 3rd place A Stow fireman examines damage at Wendy's on Graham Road on in Stow. (Leah Klafczynski / Akron Beacon Journal)
Spot News - HM Columbus firefighters put out hot spots on a house on Ann St. in Columbus. The blaze that consumed the home. Fireman had to use their axes later on the ladders to be able to collapse and store them on the trucks due to water freezing the ladders. (Eric Albrecht / The Columbus Dispatch)
Sports - 1st place Columbus Blue Jackets center Pierre-Luc Dubois (18) is knocked into Dallas Stars goaltender Ben Bishop (30) in the first period of their game at Nationwide Arena in Columbus. (Brooke LaValley / The Columbus Dispatch)
Sports - 2nd place Ohio State's Te'Shan Campbell gets taken down by Iowa's Alex Marinelli during their 165 pound match at Value City Arena in Columbus. Marinelli won Dec 4-1. (Kyle Robertson / The Columbus Dispatch)
Sports - 3rd place Ohio State forward Jae'Sean Tate (1) goes up to block a shot from Maryland guard Anthony Cowan (1) over teammate guard C.J. Jackson (3) during the first half of a game at Value City Arena in Columbus. (Adam Cairns / The Columbus Dispatch)
Story - 1st place Students celebrate with players after storming the court following the Buckeyes' 80-64 victory against the Michigan State at Value City Arena in Columbus. (Joshua A. Bickel / The Columbus Dispatch)
Story - 2nd place Dressed as Cinderella, Teegan Gecsvich, 4, of Marysville, gets tips on her curtsy from a similarly dressed princess during a sold-out Princess Party at the Greater Columbus Convention Center. (Barbara J. Perenic / The Columbus Dispatch)
Story - 3rd place Royal Knights' Cameron Broom greets Canton Charge mascot "Pozzie" while being introduced before their Stark Public Special Olympics game against Medina DD at Louisville. (Scott Heckel / The Canton Repository)
