Already a legend in the annals of Ohio television news photography, Ali Ghanbari from WJW-TV in Cleveland, has proved once again he is the best at what he does winning his seventh ONPA Television Photographer of the Year title for his work in 2010.
Jeff Ritter of WBNS-TV in Columbus, the winner the past two years, placed second in the competition and Chris Reece, also from WJW-TV, a former two-time winner placed third.
As he has in other winning years Ghanbari dominated the individual categories, placing in all with the exception of deadline photography. Ghanbari captured first place wins in editing, feature, in-depth, news feature and spot news and placed second in personality profile and sports feature and third in general news.
This years POY title for Ghanbari comes 17 years after his first, which he won working part-time at WKEF-TV in Dayton. His subsequent wins came after moving to WJW-TV winning in 1993 and 2003 along with a four year run from 1995 through 1998. Ghanbari was also the ONPA Quarterly Clip Contest POY in 2000.
WJW was selected as ONPA Station of the Year with WBNS placing second.
ONPA Television year-end contest results
Photographer of the Year
1st – Ali Ghanbari, WJW-TV, Cleveland
2nd – Jeff Ritter, WBNS-TV, Columbus
3rd – Chris Reece, WJW-TV, Cleveland
Deadline Photography
1st – Lawrence Shields, WCPO-TV, “Cat in a Drain”
2nd – Chris Reece, WJW-TV, “Heroes”
Editing
1st – Ali Ghanbari, WJW-TV, “My Story Round 1”
Feature
1st – Ali Ghanbari, WJW-TV, “World Aids Day”
2nd – Chris Reece, WJW-TV, “Volunteer”
3rd – Lawrence Shields, WCPO-TV, “Horse Afterlife”
General News
1st – Jeff Ritter, WBNS-TV, ” Friendly Fire”
2nd – Chris Reece, WJW-TV, “Chick –Fil-A Open”
3rd – Ali Ghanbari, WJW-TV, “We’re Going to Rebuild”
In Depth/Series
1st – Ali Ghanbari, WJW-TV, “Not Forgotten Hero”
2nd – Jeff Ritter, WBNS-TV, “A living History”
3rd – Chris Reece, WJW-TV, “Abuse”
News Feature
1st – Ali Ghanbari, WJW-TV, “Honoring our Veterans”
2nd – Jeff Ritter, WBNS-TV, “Supersized Heroes”
3rd – Chris Reece, WJW-TV, “Die Inn”
Personality Profile
1st – Jeff Ritter, WBNS-TV, “Back to the Basement”
2nd – Ali Ghanbari, WJW-TV, “My Story Round 1”
Sports Feature
1st – Chris Reece, WJW-TV, “I Kilometers for Kara”
2nd – Ali Ghanbari, WJW-TV, “I Believe We are One”
3rd – Lawrence Shields, WCPO-TV, “Puppy Pound”
Spot News
1st – Ali Ghanbari, WJW-TV, “I Lost Everything “
2nd – Jeff Ritter, WBNS-TV, “Better Moove out of the Way”
3rd – Lawrence Shields, WCPO-TV, “Where’s My Check?”
Station of the Year
1st – WJW-TV, Cleveland
2nd – WBNS-TV, Columbus