When the waiting was all over Marshall Gorby of the Springfield News-Sun was the NPPA Region 4 Photographer of the Year for 2009.

Gorby, who has been in first place in Region 4 since June, has had to wait for results from the October judges who have just released the results.

Well he needn’t bite his nails any longer.

Those October results were very kind to Gorby as he swept the Spot News category and threw in a second place General News win for good measure to win going away. He’s had his share of second place finishes over the years, but made up for it in a big way by winning the ONPA Monthly Clip Contest POY title this year as well.

Gorby isn’t the only one in Springfield who bought home the hardware in 2009. Co-worker Bill Lackey was the ONPA Small Market Photographer of the Year and Barbara Perenic finished eighth in the NPPA Region 4 standings.

I’d drive to Springfield to congratulate them all, but there are just too many car crashes down there. I’ll meet you half way in Columbus this weekend gang.

Spot News
1st – Marshall Gorby, Springfield News-Sun, “Home Destroyed”
2nd – Marshall Gorby, Springfield News-Sun, “House Fire”
3rd – Marshall Gorby, Springfield News-Sun, “Accident”

General News
1st – Cory Morse, The Muskegon Chronicle, “School cuts”
2nd – Marshall Gorby, Springfield News-Sun, “Renovated Firehouse”
3rd – Ken Stevens, The Muskegon Chronicle, “In search of murder weapon”

Feature/Single Picture
1st – Kendra Stanley-Mills, The Muskegon Chronicle, “Fall fun”
2nd – Ken Stevens, The Muskegon Chronicle, “Judging the competition”
3rd – Cory Morse, The Muskegon Chronicle, “Foggy lake”

Feature/Multiple Picture
1st – Aaron Borton, “Komen Race”
2nd – Charlie Nye, The Indianapolis Star, “Church Celebrates 175 Years”
3rd – John Tully, Midland Daily News, “Friday Night Rivalry”

Sports
1st – Doug McSchooler, “Surprised Goal”
2nd – Kendra Stanley-Mills, The Muskegon Chronicle, “Leader of the Pack”
3rd – John Tully, Midland Daily News, “Woods Run”

Final Standings
1st – Marshall Gorby, Springfield News-Sun – 1044
2nd – Matt Detrich, The Indianapolis Star – 722
3rd – Ryan Garza, The Flint Journal – 682
4th – John Tully, Midland Daily News – 540
5th – Kendra Stanley-Mills, The Muskegon Chronicle – 524
6th – Cory Morse, The Muskegon Chronicle – 364
7th – Nathaniel Morgan, The Midland Daily News – 334
8th – Barbara Perenic, Springfield News-Sun – 332
9th – Charlie Nye, The Indianapolis Star – 304
10th – Sarah Wright, Chillicothe Gazette – 294