First Place, Portrait/Personality - Abigail Bobrow / Sandusky RegisterMaleka Bassir, 27, is overcome with emotion as she recalls the events surrounding the death of her brother, 17-year-old Mufaro "Teddy" Young, who recently died from an asthma attack May 9, 2007 in his Sandusky home. Bassir also suffers from the condition.
Second Place, Portrait/Personality - Doral Chenoweth III / Taylor Marcum, 4, stares out of her family's South Side home. Due to the fallout from the foreclosure crisis, her mother, Jami Robinette, has had trouble figuring out where to send the rent check for this house.
Third Place, Portrait/Personality - Lisa DeJong / The Plain DealerSitey Abukar, 10, (left) and her sister Shamso, 8, belong to one of Cleveland's newest communities. Born in a refugee camp in Kenya, the children arrived in 2004 with about 250 other Somali Bantu to start new lives in a world far unlike the one they knew.
Award of Excellence, Portrait/Personality - Chris Russell / The Columbus DispatchPortrait of professional body piercer Lindsay Rink who is a devotee of body manipulation, including tattoos, piercings, and scarring. The photo accompanied a story on breast implants that she got for free by accepting contributions from men on a website titled "myfreebreastimplants.com.
Award of Excellence, Portrait/Personality - Chris Russell / The Columbus DispatchPortrait of influential Columbus Police Officer James J. Scanlon who has been an outspoken critic of the media and the police department in their handling of officers involved in shootings.
Award of Excellence, Portrait/Personality - Stephanie J. Smith / The Morning JournalMiles Robles, 7, of Norwalk, stands next to numerous ribbons he and his family won while waiting for his mother to prepare their pony, Bunny, to show at the Huron County Fair.
