Kent, Ohio – Carrie Cochran from the Cincinnati Enquirer and Jessica Phelps from the Newark Advocate have been chosen Ohio News Photographers of the Year for 2015 by the Ohio News Photographers Association.
Cochran won in the large market category and Phelps won the small market category and also won the previous year. Finishing second in large market division was Adam Cairns from The Columbus Dispatch.
The James R. Gordon Ohio Understanding Award was awarded to Lynn Ischay for her entry “Distinguished Gentlemen of Spoken Word.”
Isaac Hale from Ohio University won the Student Photographer of the Year award.
Best of Show – Jessica Phelps / Newark Advocate
Adam Runyons’ family reacts after he spoke at his hearing. Runyons pleaded guilty to the murder of his father in May 2014. He received 18 years-life in prison for brutally killing his father with a machete.
Jessica Phelps from the Newark Advocate was awarded Best of Show in the contest for her entry, “Adam Runyons.”
Along with winning the large market title Cochran won first in news picture story and second in feature picture story and an award of excellence in the general news category.
Although not part of her winning portfolio Cochran dominated the video awards in the contest winning first place awards for best feature and news video and had second place wins in best news and sports video and won an award of excellence for best feature video. Cochran also had a hand in three team video awards won by the Enquirer.
The Staff of the Year award in the large market division went to the Cincinnati Enquirer. Cochran had a hand in 39 of the Enquirers 68 points.
Phelps whose POY title was a repeat performace also won first place awards in feature picture story and general news. Her general news winner “Adam Runyons” was named Best of Show by the judges.
75 visual journalists from across the state submitted 852 entries in the 65th annual news photography contest judged over the last two days at Kent State University.
Judging the competition were: Tim Broekema, professor Western Kentucky University; Melissa Lyttle, independent visual journalist; Jake May, The Flint Journal. Judging multimedia and online entries remotely were: Lauren Frohne, Video Journalist for The Seattle Times; Erin Brethauer, filmmaker and video editor at the San Francisco Chronicle and Kat Duncan, video editor at the San Francisco Chronicle.
Kyle Robertson from The Columbus Dispatch was named Clip Photographer of the Year from points accumulated in the Association’s Monthly Clip Contest. Eamon Queeney from The Dispatch placed second and Andy Morrison from The (Toledo) Blade won third place.