First place, Spot News (Under 80,000) - Barbara J. Perenic / Springfield News-SunThrough tears, Richard White calls family members after the car he was driving hit two young children who were reportedly both riding on the same bicycle late Wednesday afternoon.
Second place, Spot News (Under 80,000) - Matt Hafley / Kent State UniversityMultiple fights broke out during the annual drinking festival in Kent on College Ave on April 21. 2012. Police were forced to intervene when the fights got out of hand using less-than-lethal methods to disperse the party-goers.
Third place, Spot News (Under 80,000) - Bill Lackey / Springfield News-SunA crash victim is seen through the rippling heat rising off the burning car they escaped from as firefighters carry them to a medic unit after the car they were in struck a tree along Fletcher-Chapel Road in Harmony Township and burst into flames. The driver and passenger were both transported to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
Award of Excellence, Spot News (Under 80,000) - Brent Lewis / Chillicothe GazetteDaughter of Donald Hatfield cries out while being pulled into the family's home after her father was struck and killed by across the street from his home on Tuesday, November 20, 2012 on the 14000 block of Highway 772 outside of Chillicothe.
Award of Excellence, Spot News (Under 80,000) - Bill Lackey / Springfield News-SunMembers of the Springfield Fire Division rescue one of the three children from an overturned SUV following a two vehicle crash at the intersection of East High Street and Walnut Street Monday afternoon. Five people were involved in the accident, all were transported to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
Award of Excellence, Spot News (Under 80,000) - Barbara J. Perenic / Springfield News-SunJesse Cowell of Cedarville Township moves to avoid a flare-up from a pile of hay while defensively fighting the barn fire which threatened the Waymire family's nearby home and other out-buildings on the property. Fire and rescue crews from Cedarville, Harmony, Madison and Stokes Townships battled the three-alarm barn fire for hours.
Award of Excellence, Spot News (Under 80,000) - Robert K. Yosay / The (Youngstown) VindicatorThe mother of 24-year-old homicide victim Dion Weatherspoon and an unidentified relative console each other a few feet from the spot where he was found shot to death.
