First place, News Picture Story - Dale Omori / The Plain Dealer
First place, News Picture Story - Dale Omori / The Plain DealerHomes are surrounded by flood waters in New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
First place, News Picture Story - Dale Omori / The Plain DealerDwight Williams, 59, is helped out of an air boat after being taken back to his home the flooded out Arabi section of New Orleans to retrieve medication, Sept. 4, 2005.
First place, News Picture Story - Dale Omori / The Plain DealerThousands of people were living near the intersection of I-10 and the Causeway awaiting evacuation out of New Orleans, Sept. 2, 2005.
First place, News Picture Story - Dale Omori / The Plain DealerA young boy and his mother await evacuation from New Orleans. They were living beneath a highway overpass.
First place, News Picture Story - Dale Omori / The Plain DealerA man assists an elderly woman through the squalor while waiting for a bus to evacuate him from New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Sept. 2, 2005.
First place, News Picture Story - Dale Omori / The Plain DealerAn Ohio National Guardsman passes out water at the Superdome in New Orleans, La., in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
First place, News Picture Story - Dale Omori / The Plain DealerOhio National Guardsmen, staff seargent Dion Brodeur, of Lima, and specialist Joshua Park, of Spencerville, carry a man to a cart to be taken to a medical infirmary area at the Superdome in New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Aug. 3, 2005.
First place, News Picture Story - Dale Omori / The Plain DealerA sign warns looters on a storefront near downtown New Orleans, Sept. 7, 2005.
First place, News Picture Story - Dale Omori / The Plain DealerArmed with a sawed-off shotgun, Phil Borges stands guard against looters, Sept. 5, 2005, New Orleans, La. Most of the city has been evacuated. Borges was escorting a friend as she collected her belongs. Behind Borges is the apartment house where Lee Harvey Oswald stayed.
First place, News Picture Story - Dale Omori / The Plain DealerMembers of the U.S. Army 82nd Airborne patrol an intersection in downtown New Orleans Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2005, New Orleans, La. Numerous fires have broken out throughout the city in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Low water pressure and areas still flooded have hampered efforts fighting the fires.
First place, News Picture Story - Dale Omori / The Plain DealerA man rows a boat down a flooded street in Arabi, a section of New Orleans, La., in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
First place, News Picture Story - Dale Omori / The Plain DealerJames Cooper, 91, sits on the St. Claude Ave. Bridge after being rescued from the flooded out Arab section of New Orleans, Sept. 4, 2005.
Second Place, News Picture Story - Mike Levy / The Plain Dealer
Second Place, News Picture Story - Mike Levy / The Plain DealerIn the 1950's Lorain continued to prosper on the banks of Lake Erie and Ford contributed to Lorain's further economic growth by adding the Lorain Assembly Plant in 1958. Lorain was an American factory town producing steel, ships, and automobiles. Not five decades later almost of all Lorain's factories are closed. December 14, 2005 marked another chapter in Lorain's history as Ford's Lorain Assembly Plant closed its doors for good. The plant was Ford's second largest in America and once employed as many 16,000 workers.
Second Place, News Picture Story - Mike Levy / The Plain DealerThe executive committee of United Auto Workers local 425 represented Lorain Assembly Plant workers. Now that the plant is closed the future of the 425 is uncertain.
Second Place, News Picture Story - Mike Levy / The Plain DealerSymbols of pride conflict with the deteriorating reality of downtown Lorain.
Second Place, News Picture Story - Mike Levy / The Plain DealerTrucks as big as houses are common in Lorain.
Second Place, News Picture Story - Mike Levy / The Plain DealerHerb Bennett Sr. and Jr. thought Ford was invincible. Herb Sr. made it to retirement but Herb Jr.'s future is uncertain.
Second Place, News Picture Story - Mike Levy / The Plain DealerDowntown Lorain dressed up for the holidays.
Second Place, News Picture Story - Mike Levy / The Plain DealerA retired Ford worker finds himself alone at the Union Hall before a meeting. Because of the plant closing the fate of the Union Hall is unknown.
Second Place, News Picture Story - Mike Levy / The Plain DealerClyde Jackson enjoyed a long career with the Ford plant in Lorain. Because of the closure of the plant his benefits are being challenged. He retired in 1984 and drives a Grand Marquis. He is worried about his future.
Second Place, News Picture Story - Mike Levy / The Plain DealerTwo days before the Lorain Assembly Plant closed Ford allowed media in for a last tour of the factory that produced the Ford Econoline for almost 50 years.
Second Place, News Picture Story - Mike Levy / The Plain DealerThis enormous parking lot was used for overflow storage for vehicles produced at Ford's Lorain Assembly Plant. In the past this lot used to be full of Ford Econoline trucks.
Third Place, News Picture Story - Mike Levy / The Plain Dealer
Third Place, News Picture Story - Mike Levy / The Plain DealerLast summer inner city Cleveland was blighted by three separate homicides of middle school aged children. They were killed by rival gangs from different housing projects in Cleveland. The shooters and the dead are just children. Parents, residents and community activists infiltrated the ranks of the gangs and negotiated a peace plan that was signed by many of the youth involved in the violence. The city has had no new homicides involving children to this date.
Third Place, News Picture Story - Mike Levy / The Plain DealerMembers of the community task force walk around the area where 11-year-old Brandon Davis was fatally shot near a playground at the Outhwaite housing project in Cleveland.
Third Place, News Picture Story - Mike Levy / The Plain DealerTamara Cuevas sister of Brandon Davis grieves at a makeshift memorial on the site where Brandon fell from a fatal gunshot wound in front of the Lonnie Burton Rec Center at Outhwaite.
Third Place, News Picture Story - Mike Levy / The Plain DealerA candle light vigil at the site of the Brandon Davis shooting attracted over 100 people, many from different Cleveland housing projects, all with the same purpose, to stop the senseless violence.
Third Place, News Picture Story - Mike Levy / The Plain DealerFamily and friends filled the pews at the Shiloh Baptist Church, where they comforted each other during the funeral of Lennard Pinson, a 16-year-old freshman at East Tech High School in Cleveland. Lennard was fatally shot during a clash of rival neighborhood groups. Witnesses have said he was trying to make peace.
Third Place, News Picture Story - Mike Levy / The Plain DealerLennard Pinson's body is carried from Shiloh Baptist Church to the awaiting hearse.
Third Place, News Picture Story - Mike Levy / The Plain DealerDeloris Walton a long time resident of Outhwaite has made it her mission to counsel young children in her neighborhood about the dangers of gangs.
Third Place, News Picture Story - Mike Levy / The Plain DealerEZ bares a tattoo on his cheek he is a member of a gang at the Outhwaite housing project. He did not want me to photograph his whole face.
Third Place, News Picture Story - Mike Levy / The Plain DealerFriends of Brandon Davis say goodbye.
Third Place, News Picture Story - Mike Levy / The Plain DealerCommunity peace activist Khalid Sammad reaches out to the young people in the inner city of Cleveland.
Award of Excellence, News Picture Story - Gus Chan / The Plain Dealer
Award of Excellence, News Picture Story - Gus Chan / The Plain DealerHousing court bailiffs never know what will be waiting for them behind the next door. Al Humphrey checks the door of a house before the movers come to remove the contents of the home.
Award of Excellence, News Picture Story - Gus Chan / The Plain DealerBrandon Satchell kicks in the door of an apartment that was deadbolted from the inside. Satchell, a bailiff, was there to evict the tenants.
Award of Excellence, News Picture Story - Gus Chan / The Plain DealerRobert Sheehan surveys a family's home during an eviction.
Award of Excellence, News Picture Story - Gus Chan / The Plain DealerAl Humphrey pauses on the stairway to offer a landlord a few tips during an eviction.
Award of Excellence, News Picture Story - Gus Chan / The Plain DealerIt took all of five minutes for movers to clean out an apartment of a mother of two in a housing project off E. 55th St.
Award of Excellence, News Picture Story - Gus Chan / The Plain DealerCheryl Wiley frantically phones friends and family searching for someone to help her mover her belongings from the yard.
Award of Excellence, News Picture Story - Gus Chan / The Plain DealerA mover carries a mattress to the tree lawn during an eviction.
Award of Excellence, News Picture Story - Gus Chan / The Plain DealerBrandon Satchell waits patiently for movers to take everything out of an apartment in a public housing high rise.
Award of Excellence, News Picture Story - Gus Chan / The Plain DealerA mover stacks trash bags filled with clothing on the tree lawn as bailiff Al Humphrey keeps watch from his car.
Award of Excellence, News Picture Story - Jpshua Gunter / The Plain Dealer
Award of Excellence, News Picture Story - Jpshua Gunter / The Plain DealerHurricane Katrina ravaged the property and lives of people that lived near the gulf coast of Mississippi. This is an area that saw far less media coverage than New Orleans, but faces just as long of a road to recovery. The following chronicles the lives of people along 60 miles of coastline over five days; September 2-7. Christian Baehr (right) and Christian Baehr, Jr. embrace each other as they look over Jr's belongings in Waveland, Mississippi, September 06, 2005.
Award of Excellence, News Picture Story - Jpshua Gunter / The Plain DealerSigns that managed to stand through the battering winds of Hurricane Katrina were badly damaged. A Harley Davidson and McDonald's sign near Gulfport Mississippi, are barely recognizable, September 06, 2005.
Award of Excellence, News Picture Story - Jpshua Gunter / The Plain DealerTrain tracks that bisect Waveland were washed awry by the storm surge in Waveland, Mississippi, September 06, 2005.
Award of Excellence, News Picture Story - Jpshua Gunter / The Plain DealerWillet Whiting, 79, survived WWII and numerous other hurricanes. This one took his home. He showers Tuesday at an outdoor makeshift shower after his friend Hazel Yeager, also 79, finished hers. Gulport Mississippi, September 06, 2005.
Award of Excellence, News Picture Story - Jpshua Gunter / The Plain DealerA sign stands as a memorial for pets that were lost to Hurricane Katrina in downtown Biloxi, Mississippi, September 05, 2005.
Award of Excellence, News Picture Story - Jpshua Gunter / The Plain DealerJoseph Brooks,41, cares for Two Bit, a dog he rescued during hurricane Katrina, a stones throw from the ocean behind the Grand Casino in Biloxi, Mississippi, September 05, 2005.
Award of Excellence, News Picture Story - Jpshua Gunter / The Plain DealerTammy Meyers, a single mother, collects personal belongings in Long Beach, Mississippi, September 06, 2005.
Award of Excellence, News Picture Story - Jpshua Gunter / The Plain Dealer After a long day in the field, FEMA Ohio Task Force 1 return to their Base of Operation for a decontamination spray down in Gulfport, Mississippi, September 03, 2005.
Award of Excellence, News Picture Story - Jpshua Gunter / The Plain DealerDoug Cope, with the FEMA Ohio Task Force 1, calls out for survivors into an attic of a collapsed home in Pas Christian, Mississippi, September 03, 2005.
Award of Excellence, News Picture Story - Jpshua Gunter / The Plain DealerWhat once was a home is now a pile of rubble, identified only by the sign posted roadside after Hurricane Katrina in Biloxi, Mississippi, September 05, 2005.
Award of Excellence, News Picture Story - Jpshua Gunter / The Plain DealerPersonal items are scattered across the roadside, mud-covered and water-stained. A photo album sits roadside in Pas Christian, Mississippi, September 03, 2005.
Award of Excellence, News Picture Story - Jpshua Gunter / The Plain DealerDaniel Lindsey, 8, passes some time playing a video game outside Triplett Day drug store where his siblings were getting paid to help clean the flooded store in Gullfport, Mississippi, September 04, 2005.
Award of Excellence, News Picture Story - Sung H. Jun / Ohio University
Award of Excellence, News Picture Story - Sung H. Jun / Ohio UniversityRebecca Valentine found her daughter's favorite doll among the ruins of her boyfriend's mobile home. Residents and family of the Eastbrook Mobile Home Court were allowed back into the park to gather belongings. Valentine was trapped by a water heater after the tornado hit. Tornado victims, Rebecca Valentine and her boyfriend Tony Mitchell lost their home in a tornado on November 6th, which killed 20 of their neighbors in Evansville, In. After five weeks, they move into a new trailer home a couple of blocks away from their old home.
Award of Excellence, News Picture Story - Sung H. Jun / Ohio UniversityRebecca Valentine and her boyfriend, Tony Mitchell, look over the classified ads in a newspaper to find a used couch. The couple stayed in a motel, HomeLife Studio & Suites, for five weeks after they lost their home in the Nov. 6th tornado.
Award of Excellence, News Picture Story - Sung H. Jun / Ohio UniversityRebecca Valentine, left, and Tony Mitchell head to a mobile home that they purchased located in Eastbrook Mobile Home Park. Valentine is still scared to move back into a trailer after surviving the Nov. 6th tornado. However, she and Mitchell purchased a new trailer a couple of blocks away from their old home. Mitchell wanted to move back into Eastbrook because he enjoys living there.
Award of Excellence, News Picture Story - Sung H. Jun / Ohio UniversityTony Mitchell and Rebecca Valentine listen carefully to Joe Whitenhead, the president of Amar Corp, at the Eastbrook Mobile Home Park office before they sign the contract for their new mobile home located in Eastbrook Mobile Home Park.
Award of Excellence, News Picture Story - Sung H. Jun / Ohio UniversityTony Mitchell and Rebecca Valentine, check the view from their new mobile home after just purchasing it. The couple bought another trailer located in Eastbrook Mobile Home Park. Tornado victims, Rebecca Valentine and her boyfriend Tony Mitchell lost their home in a tornado on November 6th, which killed 20 of their neighbors in Evansville, In. After five weeks, they move into a new trailer home a couple of blocks away from their old home.
Award of Excellence, News Picture Story - Sung H. Jun / Ohio UniversityTony Mitchell (left) gets a hug from Rebecca Valentine, while they take a look at their new mobile home located in Eastbrook Mobile Home Park. Valentine is happy she can have Christmas at a new home instead of the motel where they have been staying.
Award of Excellence, News Picture Story - Sung H. Jun / Ohio UniversityTony Mitchell (right) is busy dealing with utilities hook-up arrangements as Rebecca Valentine unpacks silverware and other kitchen items in their new mobile home.
Award of Excellence, News Picture Story - Sung H. Jun / Ohio UniversityRebecca Valentine (left) and Tony Mitchelle change a light bulb while they move into their new mobile home located in Eastbrook Mobile Home Park. They have purchased a new mobile home a few blocks from where they lived before the Nov. 6th tornado.
Award of Excellence, News Picture Story - Sung H. Jun / Ohio UniversityTony Mitchell enjoys Christmas Eve with his family including his daughter, Tiffany Mitchell (left) at his new home in Eastbrook Mobile Home Park. Tony received a Scooby-Doo DVD from Tiffany, who was visiting from California. Scooby-Doo was Tiffany's favorite childhood TV program.
Award of Excellence, News Picture Story - Sung H. Jun / Ohio UniversityTony Mitchell looks outside through the side door of his new mobile home in Eastbrook Mobile home. Mitchell survived the Nov, 6th tornado thanks to his canopy bed which prevented the roof of his mobile home from crushing him. "I'm 46 years old," Mitchell said. "Before the tornado, this was a beautiful trailer park. It seemed like it was out of the movies. I know it will be beautiful again."
