Ohio News Photographers Association
Serving Ohio's professional and student photojournalists for 75 years
75th annual ONPA Convention UPDATE
We’re excited to finally announce that speakers are set for the ONPA 75th Convention, June 19-21, 2026!
The DEADLINE to reserve your room at The Ohioan Hotel and Event Center – formerly the Nationwide Hotel and Conference Center – is Wednesday, May 20. Please book directly with the hotel by calling 614-880-4300.
Use our group code: 2606ONPAJ
Joining us will be:
Dale Omori, a two-time ONPA Photographer of the Year, who will talk about his 30-year career working in the newspaper industry as well as his transition to video storytelling and film making while running his own media company before retiring.
Amy Sancetta will talk about her 30-year career as a staff photographer for the Associated Press covering sports and news around the world as the organization’s U.S. National Photographer as well as stints in the Philadelphia and Cleveland bureaus.
She won the Pulitzer Prize in feature photography in 1992, and was named the Associated Press top sports photographer worldwide in 1993.
And finally, Katie Rausch, the assistant managing editor of photography and video at the Minnesota Star Tribune. The paper just won the 2026 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News for its comprehensive, compassionate coverage of the Aug. 27, 2025, mass shooting at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis.
Seems like we just celebrated our 50th anniversary – now it is time to celebrate our 75th. (Illustration by Andrea Levy)
Previously, Katie served as the deputy director of photography at The Denver Post, and as a staff visual journalist with The Blade in Toledo, Ohio, and the Jackson Citizen Patriot in Jackson, Mich.
She won ONPA Photographer of the year title while atThe Blade in 2013 and served as ONPA still vice president.
Please register now!
You don’t want to miss the speakers and reconnect with old friends during the 75th anniversary celebration! Registration is only $25.00. We are bringing back the hospitality suite on both Friday and Saturday night and the awards dinner on Saturday evening.
Please bring your friends and bring your stories and celebrate our rich history of the Ohio News Photographers Association!
Triple crown winner and a rookie take top honors in POY competition
The 2025 ONPA Still Contest had a little rarefied air to it and made some history along the way.
The rarefied air is courtesy of Jeremy Wadsworth from The Blade who won his second consecutive George S. Smallsreed Photographer of the Year title in the Large Market Division. In doing so he achieved the triple crown, as he also won Best of Show and the Clip Contest POY title all in the same year. The only other person to accomplish this was Dale Omori of The Plain Dealer for his work in 2003.
Now for the history side of the equation. Wesley Blackburn, a high school student from Greenville, won the Small Market Photographer of the Year title and is the first student to win a POY title since Tim Barmann from Kent State University did so in 1986. Ohio University students Lois Bernstein in 1984 and Gail Fisher in 1979 also accomplished the feat. Needless to say Blackburn is the only one of these students who was looking for a prom date while winning.
Ben Pennington from Ohio University won the Chuck Scott Student Photographer of the Year title. Judges were impressed with Pennington’s portfolio commenting that it would hold its own up against the professional portfolios that they were about to judge. By the way, they were right.
Click for complete results
Large Market POY Jeremy Wadsworth
Tiara Kasten, mother Kei’mani Latigue, at the scene where her 13-year-old daughter’s body was found inside a house in Toledo.
Small Market POY Wesley Blackburn
Terry Jesse kneels beside a surviving goat after a barn fire killed multiple goats in Arcanum.
Joe Cromer wins ONPA Television POY
After three straight years of placing third in the ONPA year-end Television Contest Joe Cromer from WTOL-TV in Toledo has claimed the brass ring and is the 2025 ONPA Television Photographer of the Year.
There were some familiar faces challenging him for top honors. Megan Heady from WBNS-TV in Columbus was the runner-up and Chris Reece with WJW-TV in Cleveland placing third.
Scott Doelling with WBNS won Best of Show for his Feature entry “Healing Waters".
Click for complete results
Best of Show - Scott Doelling
The ups and downs of the graveyard shift
Away from the office you’re likely to find a guitar or a paint brush in Joe Cromer’s hands.
Unless you work in the Toledo market you may have never crossed paths with photojournalist Joe Cromer. While you’re sleeping this guy has been working the graveyard shift at WTOL-TV in Toledo for 25 years.
It’s not the kind of shift that one would expect a lot of plum assignments that lead to award winning stories. In Cromer’s case that’s exactly what is happening. Cromer won the 2025 ONPA Television Photographer of the Year Award after placing third in the contest for three consecutive years.
ONPA seeking candidates for officer positions
We are still seeking nominations for ONPA Board of Trustees positions as this is an election year. Currently, the roles of president, vice president, and secretary will be vacated; although, all seats can be contested. An official nomination is required. Please reach out to Kim Barth with a short statement of interest and bio at: onpachair1951@gmail.com. Those interested should be thinking about creative ways of moving the organization into a more active position of photographer advocacy and education as we look to expand the vision of ONPA. Voting on a new Board will be conducted electronically with swearing in to happen on convention weekend.
As we approach the celebration of 75 years, it’s important to recognize where the organization originated and continue towards inclusivity. The photojournalism landscape has changed quite a bit since the 1950’s. With this in mind, the Board worked tirelessly over several years to create revised bylaws underscoring diversity, equity, and inclusion. To that end, a vote on the revised governing language is desired. A downloadable .pdf showing the updated language with the integrated old terminology can be accessed through the voting form, making it easy to read what changes are proposed. Note: all pronouns were changed from the masculine (old) to neutral (new) and not highlighted.
Groundhog Day is here again and Jeremy Wadsworth of The Blade has won another ONPA Clip Contest Photographer of the Year title. The win is Wadsworth’s fourth consecutive title.
Jeremy Wadsworth
Andrew Dolph from the Akron Beacon Journal finished second in the final point standings and Kurt Steiss from The Blade placed third. Rebecca Benson from The Blade was just 20 points back in fourth place.
Wadsworth graduated from Ohio University’s School of Visual Communication in 1998 and began working at The Blade the following year. In winning his fourth Clip Contest POY title Wadsworth had 66 wins during the year and placed in all eight categories of the contest.
The Blade staff dominated the clip contest over the course of the year. Kurt Steiss, Rebecca Benson, Annis Addison, Daniel Carlson and Jonathan Aguilar along with Wadsworth consistently produced images chose by the judges each and every month.
September – Feature – 1st place
A student walks through the shadows of the “Owens Rings”, suspended glass sculpture created by world-renowned artist Ray King of Philadelphia at the Owens Community College Center for Fine & Performing Arts in Perrysburg. (Jeremy Wadsworth / The Blade)
News and inspirations from ONPA president Andrew Dolph
Updated May 11, 2025
1st – Jeremy Wadsworth – 424
2nd – Addison Annis - 244
3rd - Sam Greene - 204
4th – Andrew Dolph - 194
5th – Rebecca Benson – 184
6th – Bryant Billing – 174
– Kurt Steiss – 174
8th – Jeff Lange – 64
9th – Erik Schelkun – 2
Questions concerning the monthly clip contest can be directed to Jeremy Wadsworth or Rebecca Benson.
Entries are accepted from the first through midnight on the 15th of the month following publication.
Kimberly Barth
Board Chair
Andrew Dolph
President
Kristin Bauer
Treasurer
Sam Greene
Still Vice President
Chris Reece
Television Vice President
Lisa Scalfaro
Secretary
The Larry Fullerton Photojournalism Scholarship was established at The Dayton Foundation through contributions from Larry Fullerton’s family and friends to assist students pursuing careers in photo- journalism. Larry Fullerton was a long-time member of ONPA and both a photojournalist and assistant managing editor of the Hamilton Journal-News.