Feature - 1st place - Steve McQuistion, an employee of Sign Affects, looks like he's showing off his oversized pearly whites as he hangs a dentist sign at the Tower Building in Springfield. (Marshall Gorby / Springfield News-Sun)
Feature - 2nd place - Karen Clifton fills a order for a Classic Red Poinsettia at Straders Greenhouse Wholesale Division in Grove City. Jim Black (not pictured) said they started growing them from cuttings on July 5 and have several greenhouses filled with over 52,000 poinsettia. (Tom Dodge / The Columbus Dispatch)
Feature - 3rd place - Nadine Seehaus, an Ohio State Student from Germany, jumps into Mirror Lake Nov. 22, 2011. Officials expect thousands of students to jump into the lake over a four-hour period beginning at 10 p.m. The jump is a tradition leading up to the football game between Ohio State and the University of Michigan. (Eric Albrecht / The Columbus Dispatch)
Feature - HM - Trudy Dotson, of German Village, plays with her dog Zoey at the dog park at Scioto Audubon Park in Columbus, (Eric Albrecht / The Columbus Dispatch)
Feature - HM - Madison James has a hard time playing in the leaves as the wind was making the fun for her at the tennis courts at Jeffery Park in Bexley. (Eric Albrecht / The Columbus Dispatch)
General News - 1st place - Student government representatives, the panhellenic association and the inter-fraternity council made their way up fraternity and sorority row to talk to students who live off campus about the string of recent off-campus robberies and asking for signatures on a petition to ask the city of Columbus to give OSU Police jurisdiction to make arrests off-campus, among other safety demands. (Neal C. Lauron / The Columbus Dispatch)
General News - 2nd place - The American flag is reflected in the chrome helmet of a Wright State University R.O.T.C. cadet as he presents the colors during the Veterans Day service at Veterans Park in Springfield. (Bill Lackey / Springfield News-Sun)
General News - 3rd place - Hilliard Davidson seniors Heath Flowers (left) and Monica Lince (right) react after finding out Hilliard City Schools levy failed by 6 votes. In front is Bobbi Mueller, co-chairwoman of For Hilliard Schools. (Kyle Robertson / The Columbus Dispatch)
General News - HM - Ohio Gov. John Kasich wipes his brow while Neihaus and Batchelder answer questions about the failure of Issue 2 at the Ohio Statehouse. (Eric Albrecht / The Columbus Dispatch)
General News - HM - Columbus Blue Jackets right wing Derek Dorsett signs the prosthetic leg of Victor Hibbs outside the Columbus VA Ambulatory Care Center in Columbus. Hibbs is an Air Force veteran from the Vietnam War and was at the center to pick up his new prosthetic leg. Hibbs was sitting outside the center smoking and chatting with a few veterans, not being familiar with the Jackets, he wondered about hockey players who fight when Jacket's Dorsett was leaving the center for an earlier autograph session inside. After a hand shake Hibbs asked Dorsett to sign his leg. (Neal C. Lauron / The Columbus Dispatch)
Portrait - 2nd place - Farmer Don Thomas enjoys the view of his 110-acre farm in Gambier. The retired schoolteacher's property was among 37 selected last year to receive funding under the Clean Ohio Agricultural Easement Purchase Program, which pays farmers to keep their properties permanently agricultural. (Jonathan Quilter / The Columbus Dispatch)
Portrait - 3rd place - Pat McCaffrey, a Columbus lawyer, and his blood-tracking dog, Zeus, track down deer that wander off after being wounded by hunters. (Kyle Robertson / The Columbus Dispatch)
Portrait - HM - Karen Miller (left) holding Lil-8, with their dog T-Bone and Ronald Miller holding Neon in their Washington Court House home. Fayette County Humane Society Officers returned 3 cats to the Millers after they cleaned up their home. The third cat "Shy" in not in the picture. (Tom Dodge / The Columbus Dispatch)
Spot News - 1st place - Staff photo by Marshall Gorby (Marshall Gorby / Springfield News-Sun)
Spot News - 2nd place - Jamie Mitchell hugs her soot covered cat after it was rescued from a house fire at her residence at 1629 Tibbetts Ave. by members of the Springfield Fire Division. Another of Mitchell's cats died in the fire which started in a bedroom. (Bill Lackey / Springfield News-Sun)
Sports - 1st place - Conor Hennessey of St. Ignatius put a hit on Qunicy Jones of St. Edwards as he makes a catch during the Division I regional semi-finals at Brunswick High School. St. Ignatius won 23-20 on a field goal with 2 seconds left in regulation. (Kyle Lanzer / Sun Newspapers)
Sports - 2nd place - North Florida Ospreys guard Jimmy Williams Jr. (14) falls on top of Ohio State guard Aaron Craft (4) as they go for the loose ball in the first half of their NCAA basketball game at the Schottenstein Center. (Neal C. Lauron / The Columbus Dispatch)
Sports - 3rd place - (Kyle Robertson / The Columbus Dispatch)
Sports - HM - Eric Hoecker kisses the trophy after the Springfield Shawnee cross country team won its first state title in the Division II race at the OHSAA state cross country championships at the National Trail Raceway. (Barbara Perenic / Springfield News-Sun)
Sports - HM - Ohio State wide receiver Corey Brown (10) has the ball go through his hands on a long pass with Penn State cornerback Chaz Powell (2) and safety Nick Sukay (1) defending on the play. (Kyle Robertson / The Columbus Dispatch)
Story - 1st place - Marty Cotton kisses her husband, Daniel, after Daniel had an echocardiogram 10 days after receiving a heart transplant. Daniel had a massive heart attack in March, and had an LVAD implanted. He had a heart transplant on August 22. A week and a half out, the reality and the weight of what happened is starting to sink in, and their emotions were close to the surface. (Lynn Ischay / The Plain Dealer)
Story - 2nd place - Worthington Christian celebrates their 2-0 win over Hawken in the boys Divsion III state championship game at Crew Stadium. (Kyle Robertson / The Columbus Dispatch)
Story - 3rd place - Grandview Heights captains prepare to meet the captains from Crestview for the coin toss for their OHSAA Division V football playoff game at Grandview Heights High School,. (Neal C. Lauron / The Columbus Dispatch)
Story - HM - Students from St. Paul's Lutheran School sing the National Anthem at the beginning of the Voices from the Stone program at the Union County Veterans Memorial Plaza in Marysville. (Jonathan Quilter / The Columbus Dispatch)
Story - HM - Ohio State's Samantha Prahalis (21) leads the team in a pre-game chant prior to their game against Tennessee State at Value City Arena. (Neal C. Lauron / The Columbus Dispatch)
