2015 ONPA Pictures of the Year

First Place, Student Photographer of the Year - Isaac Hale / Ohio University

First Place, Student Photographer of the Year - Isaac Hale / Ohio University

Barbara and Derek Habbeshaw, right, listen to a pastor speak during the candlelight vigil for Michael and Tina Careccia at Pacana Park in Maricopa, AZ, on Friday, July 3, 2015. Jose Valenzuela confessed to shooting the couple after police found their bodies buried in his yard.

First Place, Student Photographer of the Year - Isaac Hale / Ohio University

"A lot of people try to be somebody else, something that they're not,” said SEPTA Correctional Facility resident Steven Hipps. “You go to prison and a lot of white guys try to act like they're black, try to fit in with all the black guys. They pretty much got power in most penitentiaries. I just kind of put it out there that I ain't on that shit."

First Place, Student Photographer of the Year - Isaac Hale / Ohio University

“Was it 61 or 62?”, says Resident Monitor Chasity Bolyard as she counts residents in the east wing of the SEPTA Correctional Facility for the 6:30 p.m. count. The Southeastern Probation Treatment Alternative (SEPTA) correctional facility is a community-based residential center, located in Nelsonville, Ohio.

First Place, Student Photographer of the Year - Isaac Hale / Ohio University

Oscar Paparone, right, 8, sits forward as he watches "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day" with is family as part of the Dive 'n' Movies series at Wet 'n' Wild Phoenix waterpark in Glendale, AZ, on Thursday, July 9, 2015. The park plays a different movie every Thursday and Friday night starting at 8 in the evening.

First Place, Student Photographer of the Year - Isaac Hale / Ohio University

At the age of sixteen, Rick Crooks lost his eyesight entirely in a gun accident. Crooks creates metal animal sculptures from repurposed equipment and tools and has created over1,200 pieces of folk art at his workshop in Crooksville, Ohio. Crooks creates his sculptures by and large by himself, but also employs his step son when he requires assistance.

First Place, Student Photographer of the Year - Isaac Hale / Ohio University

Mercury Forward Mistie Bass takes contact from Sun's players as she goes up for a shot. The Connecticut Sun defated the Phoenix Mercury 90-78 in double overtime at the US Airways Center in Phoenix, AZ, on Friday, June 19, 2015.

First Place, Student Photographer of the Year - Isaac Hale / Ohio University

Third baseman Taylor Featherston, center, is congratulated by his teammates in the dugout after scoring a run in the first inning, the first home run of his major-league career. The Los Angeles Angels defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks 7-1 at Chase Field in Phoenix, AZ, on Thursday, June 18, 2015.

First Place, Student Photographer of the Year - Isaac Hale / Ohio University

Donald Francis, nicknamed Bubba, right, suffers from Niemann–Pick Type C (NPC). NPC is a progressive genetic neurological disorder that degrades a patient’s brain functions and muscular movements required by some organs to function properly. Patients usually only live into their early twenties. Bubba's family prepares his cake as he waits to blow out the candles during his 19th birthday celebration held at his home in rural Meigs County, Ohio.

First Place, Student Photographer of the Year - Isaac Hale / Ohio University

Symptoms of Bubba's muscular failure began presenting themselves when he was 8 years old. He ran strangely, he couldn’t catch a football, and missed targets more and more with his BB gun. Bubba brushes his teeth in his bedroom since he cannot stand long enough by himself to use the sink.

First Place, Student Photographer of the Year - Isaac Hale / Ohio University

As Bubba grew older, other symptoms began presenting themselves. This began a cycle of visits and tests at the hospital every three months until he was diagnosed at the age of 14. His mother, Michele Barley, takes Bubba’s temperature after his heart rate dropped suddenly. He was given oxygen to help regulate his heart rate.

First Place, Student Photographer of the Year - Isaac Hale / Ohio University

His brain function is deteriorating and is one of the many symptoms of his disease. Bubba currently operates at a 3 to 4-year-old level of comprehension. To keep his mind active, his mother and nurses have him play board games at least once a day. Nurse Barbie Williams, right, pulls out a board game to play with Bubba and his stepsister Leah Barley.

First Place, Student Photographer of the Year - Isaac Hale / Ohio University

Around the age of 12, Bubba began falling in love with Bobaflex, a hard-rock band from Point Pleasant, West Virginia. “He got something out of it," said his mother. "You could just feel it, he was really getting into the groove of this music and it just touched him somewhere. It was something that we didn’t see very often. We’d never see him enjoy something. He was usually in pain, but when he heard Bobaflex he was happy, danced and sang, just like a normal healthy teenage boy.”

First Place, Student Photographer of the Year - Isaac Hale / Ohio University

Approximately two years ago, Bubba's doctors determined he could no longer eat by mouth as a result of the muscles in his throat weakening. Bubba now receives three meals a day, formula, water, and medications through a feeding tube connected directly into his stomach.

First Place, Student Photographer of the Year - Isaac Hale / Ohio University

"I like to think he’s still in there, because he loves to laugh,” said his mom. Michele kisses her son on the cheek after trying to tie his beard with a hair tie. Bubba has steadily lost the ability to talk since last year due to a combination of neurological and muscular malfunctions, and soon he will be unable to say anything.

First Place, Student Photographer of the Year - Isaac Hale / Ohio University

Michele helps Bubba into the car to go visit his stepfather, Duey, at the SEPTA Correctional Facility while she handles Emily, their pet and service dog.

First Place, Student Photographer of the Year - Isaac Hale / Ohio University

Residents at the correctional facility are allowed visits from family once a week for 30 minutes. A security guard enters the room to end the visitation. Duey will be released from the correctional facility in February of 2016.

First Place, Student Photographer of the Year - Isaac Hale / Ohio University

Michele checks Bubba's eyes for signs of a seizure while they sit with their extended family for Thanksgiving dinner. Duey, bottom left, was released for eight hours to spend the holiday with his family and stepson before having to return to the correctional facility.

First Place, Student Photographer of the Year - Isaac Hale / Ohio University

Over the course of the past year, Bubba has gone from speaking regularly to saying only a few words a day. Bubba struggles to read words from a magazine while his mother helps him sound out the words.

First Place, Student Photographer of the Year - Isaac Hale / Ohio University

After their Thanksgiving dinner, family gathers on the front porch. "Just to know, that if this was his last Thanksgiving, that at least he could share it with the people he loves and people who love him," said his sister Tiffany Francis, left. "It’s worth more to me than anything."

Second Place, Student Photographer of the Year - Eli C. Hiller / Ohio University

, Student Photographer of the Year - Eli C. Hiller / Ohio University

Izzy Gruber, 8, and Addy Vanvorhis, 12, push their younger sister Gabby Gruber, 8, through a flooded parking lot on her bike they had just found in Johnstown Ohio, on August 9, 2015. Many neighborhood kids play in the lot and they lost their toys when heavy rain flooded the parking lot earlier that afternoon. The local drainage system was not working properly due frequent rains that affected most of the Midwest during June and July.

, Student Photographer of the Year - Eli C. Hiller / Ohio University

Columbus Crew SC forward Kei Kamara (23) leaps for the shot as Montreal Impact goalkeeper Evan Bush (1) and Montreal Impact defender Wandrille Lefevre (55) try to stop him during the second half of the game at Mapfre Stadium in Columbus, Ohio, on June 6, 2015. The Crew lost the game 0-2.

, Student Photographer of the Year - Eli C. Hiller / Ohio University

Center, Angela Robinson, 50 of Chillicothe, is comforted by Chastity Lett, left, and family friend Lynette Mitchell while people sing a prayer song during the vigil for the missing and deceased women in Chillicothe in Yoctangee Park on June 4, 2015. Robinson's daughter Tameka Lynch, 30, went missing May 16, 2014 and was found dead May 26, 2014.

, Student Photographer of the Year - Eli C. Hiller / Ohio University

From left, Steve West, Alex Johnson, Jake Nelson and Lindsey Martin hang out in Goodale Park in Columbus, Ohio on July 12, 2015. The four hitchhiked from Youngstown to Columbus and are headed to Maine to work during the blueberry season. They identify themselves as travelers or Dirty Kids, a term that refers to a young generation of homeless traveling youth. They normally travel by means of hitchhiking and freight train hopping. "Life isn't about going home and watching Netflix or going to the bars every night after a day's work," said Nelson. "It's about experiences and meeting new people."

, Student Photographer of the Year - Eli C. Hiller / Ohio University

Columbus Clippers team members douse shortstop Michael Martinez, center, after he hit a double that won them the game 9-8 against the Indianapolis Indians in the 12th inning at Huntington Park in Columbus, Ohio on July 27, 2015.

, Student Photographer of the Year - Eli C. Hiller / Ohio University

Stuart Engler Jr. throws up his head in exhaust as he finishes the last dance of the day during a Lenape powwow in Jefferson, Ohio on August 29, 2015. Engler has been dancing in powwows since he was ten. "For me dancing is a spiritual participation that unites Native Americans with the elements of the world around them," sand Engler.

, Student Photographer of the Year - Eli C. Hiller / Ohio University

Justin Morsa, 5, runs through a line of water spouts in the water fountain at Bicentennial Park on July 24, 2015. Many families kids were enjoying the water as the Mark May Band played as part of the summer music series Rhythm on the River.

, Student Photographer of the Year - Eli C. Hiller / Ohio University

Austin Reid, 19, of Lancaster, Ohio and a student studying political science at Capital University, sits in the pews at the Tifereth Israel synagogue on 1354 E Broad St. in Columbus, Ohio on May 29, 2015. Reid recently converted to Judaism after being baptized Lutheran and growing up Catholic. Reid strives to build a jewish community in his hometown and at Capital University.

, Student Photographer of the Year - Eli C. Hiller / Ohio University

Thousands of riders turn onto S. High St. in Downtown Columbus as they begin their 100-mile trek to Kenyon College in Gambier Ohio, on August 8, 2015. The grassroots bike tour began in 2008 and funds millions of dollars each year for cancer research at The Ohio State University.

, Student Photographer of the Year - Eli C. Hiller / Ohio University

Thousands of migrants have fled Cuba ahead of the potential change in the special humanitarian provision of a U.S. law, the Cuban Adjustment Act. They flooded the small town of La Cruz, Costa Rica after the Nicaraguan government closed its border to all illegal immigration on Nov. 13, 2015. Most of the migrants have been been there for months and will be airlifted north to El Salvador with a final destination of the United States. Alejandro Estebán Galvez, 23, sleeps on bleachers of a high school gymnasium among other Cuban migrants on the morning of Dec. 29, 2015 in La Cruz, Costa Rica. The public schools, churches and community buildings in La Cruz were converted into temporary shelters to house the migrants.

, Student Photographer of the Year - Eli C. Hiller / Ohio University

From right, Vladimir Infante Hurtado, Dariel Pérez Pacheco, José García Pérez, top, and Laízaro Quintero Alvarez shave and wash themselves in one of the Costa Rican shelters. Many of the migrants are men between ages 30-40 that have left to support their families back in Cuba. They have grown accustom to the lack of privacy since they started their journey north from Cuba to Ecuador and through Central America.

, Student Photographer of the Year - Eli C. Hiller / Ohio University

Matthew Requejo Paumier, 3, left, chases after Jonathan La Rosa Mesa, 5, after Jessica Cordoba Tabares, 8, failed to make them play a game with her. There are few young children in the shelters because many parents thought the journey would be too difficult for them. Many Cubans left a spouse or family member back in Cuba to take care of their children.

, Student Photographer of the Year - Eli C. Hiller / Ohio University

Dianelis Rodriguez Mola, 23, and Eduardo Suarez Peña, 31, rest in a shelter in La Cruz. Like many of Cuban migrants, they sold all their belongings to pay for their journey to reach United States. The young couple plans to reach Las Vegas, Nevada where they have family. They recall the hardest part of their journey was when they had to travel my boat to reach the Panama border from Colombia. "If he didn't hold on to me I would have fallen off that boat," said Mola. "When one is willing to give everything to that person and that’s how you know you’re in love."

, Student Photographer of the Year - Eli C. Hiller / Ohio University

Yerandy Rodriguez, 33, cuts Samuel Gonzalez Ruíz's, 6, hair as a free service provided to all his fellow migrants. Some migrants perform tasks in the shelter that they had learned while in Cuba. Rodriguez co-owned a unisex barber shop with his wife while they lived in Cuba.

, Student Photographer of the Year - Eli C. Hiller / Ohio University

Yordanis García, 32 of Havana, left for Cuba over a year ago after spending several months working in Ecuador to save money for his trip north. His tattoo reads “Si no hay carro nos vamos en balsa,” (If there’s not a car, we’ll raft), a lyric in Spanish that is spoken by Cuban-American rapper Pitbull in the song “Rain Over Me.” “The phrase is a way to protest because to own a car in Cuba is very expensive," said García. "We don’t migrate only for freedom, but also for economic and political problems. Political for the king that we currently have and economic because in the end they don’t pay us what they owe us." Cuba’s National Statistics and Information Bureau (ONEI) in 2012 reported that the average monthly wage for Cubans is equivalent to US $20.

, Student Photographer of the Year - Eli C. Hiller / Ohio University

Orlando Peña Holguin-Mayari, 43, improvises a clothesline by hanging clothes on a door frame near a shelter in the center of La Cruz.

, Student Photographer of the Year - Eli C. Hiller / Ohio University

Hands of Cuban migrants Yasiel Valero, Elier Becker, Arnnier Dranguet, and Raymel Escobar reach for domino pieces to start a game in a shelter in La Cruz. Dominoes is a classic game in Cuba that people of all ages and backgrounds frequently play.

, Student Photographer of the Year - Eli C. Hiller / Ohio University

A group of Cuban men adjust a makeshift spit as they roast a pig along the fence of a shelter. The act of slow-roasting a pig is an annual tradition in Cuba to celebrate the arrival of a new year.

, Student Photographer of the Year - Eli C. Hiller / Ohio University

Diamelis Sanchez, left to right, Hiran Baltrell, Yalien Siaz Aguilera, and Sebastian Jimenez dance salsa in celebration of the new year on Dec. 31, 2015. Many were in good spirits when a plan was announced on Dec. 28 to airlift the Cuban migrants to El Salvador and then continue their trip by bus to reach the U.S. border.

, Student Photographer of the Year - Eli C. Hiller / Ohio University

The Costa Rican shelters are a temporary stop for these Cubans and by the end of 2016 most of them will have reached the United States to begin their new lives as legal permanent residents. The Cuban government has never approved of the Cuban Adjustment Act and blames the United States legislation for causing the humanitarian crisis. Thousands of more Cuban migrants are still stranded in Colombia and Panama after Costa Rica stopped giving out visas in December, 2015. There is no clear solution for the next wave of Cuban migrants that will try to reach the United States by this new route.