First place, Team Picture Story - / The Plain Dealer
First place, Team Picture Story - Scott Shaw / The Plain DealerKatrina's Wrath - The following team picture story represents the work of three Plain Dealer photographers sent to cover the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast. One of three U. S. Coast Guard ice boats comes back with Hurricane Katrina victims. Forty-three members of the Coast Guard's Search and Rescue Detachment for the Great Lakes Region were helping in the New Orleans disaster.
First place, Team 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, Team 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, Team Picture Story - Scott Shaw / The Plain DealerFloodwaters rise on a sculpture of jazz musicians outside a tavern in New Orleans.
First place, Team Picture Story - DALE OMORI / The Plain DealerOhio National Guardsmen, Staff Sgt.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, Team Picture Story - Scott Shaw / The Plain DealerA New Orleans resident tries to find salvageable items on an I-10 ramp where many people had stayed days earlier.
First place, Team Picture Story - DALE OMORI / The Plain DealerJames Cooper, 91, sits on the St. Claude Ave. Bridge after being rescued from the flooded out Arabi section of New Orleans, Sept. 4, 2005.
First place, Team Picture Story - JOSHUA GUNTER / The Plain DealerA sign stands as a memorial for pets that were lost to Hurricane Katrina in downtown Biloxi, Mississippi, September 05, 2005.
First place, Team Picture Story - JOSHUA 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.
First place, Team Picture Story - JOSHUA GUNTER / The Plain DealerTrain tracks that bisect Waveland were washed awry by the storm surge in Waveland, Mississippi, September 06, 2005.
First place, Team Picture Story - JOSHUA 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.
First place, Team Picture Story - JOSHUA GUNTER / The Plain DealerChristian Baehr (right) and Christian Baehr, Jr. embrace each other as they look over Jr's belongings in Waveland, Mississippi.
Second Place, Team Picture Story - / The Plain Dealer
Second Place, Team Picture Story - JOHN KUNTZ / The Plain DealerWar Hits Home - In three days, Ohio had been handed a crushing burden. It started on a Monday with news that five members of the 3rd Battalion headquarters unit, operating in sniper teams, had been killed by small-arms fire in Haditha. Four of those reservists were Ohioans. On Wednesday, 14 more 3rd Battalion Marines were killed in the same area when their amphibious assault vehicle hit an improvised explosive device. The deaths brought unprecedented grief to Ohio and an outpouring of pride and sympathy from the community.Allison Gutwein,7, of Hinckley Township watches the procession with the hearse carrying the body of Marine Cpl. Jeffrey Boskovitch passes by.
Second Place, Team Picture Story - scott shaw / The Plain DealerA pair of combat boots and a rifle are displayed on the stage at a public memorial service at the I-X Center in Brook Park on Aug. 8, 2005. Thousands attended to honor the fallen Marines.
Second Place, Team Picture Story - DALE OMORI / The Plain DealerThe family of Jeffrey Boskovitch break down during the community memorial service at the International Exposition Center.
Second Place, Team Picture Story - DALE OMORI / The Plain DealerPersian Gulf War veteran Kelly Sherwood and his son, Brad Sherwood, 10, visit the makeshift memorial outside the Marine base in Brook Park on Aug. 4, 2005.
Second Place, Team Picture Story - EUSTACIO HUMPHREY / The Plain DealerU.S. Marine Eric Montgomery, brother of marine Lance Cpl. Brian Montgomery comforts Pam Montgomery, the wife of his older brother, Aug. 6, 2005, in Willougby. Eric Montgomery who is in the same unit, the Headquarters and Service Company 3rd Battalion, 25th Marines based in Brook Park, as his brother escorted his body home from Iraq on Saturday. Brian Montgomery was killed Aug. 3, 2005 in Iraq.
Second Place, Team Picture Story - JOHN KUNTZ / The Plain DealerPam Montgomery, wife of slain Marine Brian Montgomery of Willoughby, kisses her palm before laying it on the coffin of her husband to say goodbye after burial services August 10, 2005 at Western Reserve Memorial Gardens in Chester Township. Pam Montgomery, wife of Marine Lance Cpl. Brian Montgomery, kisses her palm before placing it on her husband's coffin after burial services Wednesday at Western Reserve Memorial Gardens in Chester Township.
Second Place, Team Picture Story - Mike Levy / The Plain DealerThe funeral procession for Lance Cpl. Daniel Nathan Deyarmin Jr., who loved cars, featured the trucks and automobiles of many of his friends and neighbors.
Second Place, Team Picture Story - Mike Levy / The Plain DealerAwaiting the arrival of a fallen brother, a Marine honor guard stood stoically in the Tallmadge Cemetery.
Second Place, Team Picture Story - MIKE LEVY / The Plain DealerOne-year-old Alexander Montgomery dressed in a Marine uniform watches as his father, Lance Cpl. Brian Montgomery's casket is brought to Western Reserve Memorial Garden in Chester Township.
Second Place, Team Picture Story - Gus Chan / The Plain DealerEdie and Dan Deyarmin Sr. embrace as they make their way to the front of their Tallmadge home August 3, 2005, after addressing the media. Deyarmin's son Dan Jr. was killed when he was killed in an ambush in Haditha.
Third Place, Team Picture Story - / The Plain Dealer
Third Place, Team Picture Story - Chris Stephens / The Plain DealerA routine traffic stop on April 11, 2006, changed the lives forever of Middleburg Heights police officer Ryan Nagy and his wife, Barb. Ryan lost his leg in the line of duty.Barb embraces Ryan, as she greets him following one of his rehabilitation sessions. The first seven days Ryan was in the hospital, he was kept in a drug-induced coma and he was slow to come out of it. Besides the loss of his leg, he suffered brain trauma and he had to undergo occupational as well as physical therapy.
Third Place, Team Picture Story - Dale Omori / The Plain DealerSix weeks after the accident, Barb Nagy (center) works with her husband, Ryan, and physical therapist Johnna Cottrell at MetroHealth Medical Center. "Can I ride a motocycle with a prosthetic leg?" Ryan asked the therapist.
Third Place, Team Picture Story - Chris Stephens / The Plain DealerWhile Ryan is in physical therapy, his wife Barb chats with Dr. Usharani Tandra, director of MetroHealth Medical Centerís brain injury and stroke rehabilitation unit. Dr. Tandra told Barb it would take time for Ryan to accept his disability.
Third Place, Team Picture Story - Chris Stephens / The Plain DealerRyan shops at MetroHealth Medical Center's Rehabilitation Center, a simulated city in which patients can practice daily chores.
Third Place, Team Picture Story - Dale Omori / The Plain DealerMore than 100 police officers showed up to offer encouragement as Ryan leaves MetroHealth Medical Center.
Third Place, Team Picture Story - Mike Levy / The Plain DealerRyan and Barb look at family photos after Ryan came home from the hospital. When Ryan saw the ramp his friends had built outside, he scolded Barb. "I'm not going to be in this wheelchair forever.
Third Place, Team Picture Story - David I. Andersen / The Plain DealerBarb waits at Ryan's side just before he took his first steps at Manuel Garcia Prosthetic and Orthotic Center in Strongsville almost three months after the accident. The high-tech prosthetic is made of carbon graphite with a microprocessor in its shaft.
Third Place, Team Picture Story - David I. Andersen / The Plain DealerRyan takes his first step with his new prosthetic leg. "It'll hold me?" he asked.
Third Place, Team Picture Story - David I. Andersen / The Plain DealerRyan and his Barb could not hold back the emotions after he took his first step and stood on his own with his new prosthetic leg.
Third Place, Team Picture Story - / The Plain DealerOn his feet and back in uniform, Ryan waits for Cleveland Browns players' autographs following a morning practice. Ryan was one of 10 guests honored at training camp as part of the Browns annual "Hats Off to Our Heroes" program, which recognizes members of the military, fire, police and EMS units that have made a positive impact on the community. Ryan, wearing his uniform for the first time since the accident, walked onto the field using a prosthetic leg and two canes.
