First Place, Portrait Personality - Madeleine Hordinski / Ohio University, “Sabina”My family drove up to Michigan after the school year ended to stay for a week in a small cabin. It’s very isolated, so it was the only place we felt comfortable going as a family during the pandemic. Here, my sister Sabina swims in Torch Lake, MI, on July 25, 2020. All of her friends will be attending different schools, so she’s been having trouble navigating these relationships and the next steps she needs to make before moving forward. Several of her friends will be moving out of state. Just like Sabina, I’m not sure of what’s next. But, I’m grateful to be surrounded by my loving family; that’s the silver lining in all of this.
Second Place, Portrait Personality - Jeff Lange / Akron Beacon Journal, “I Can't Breathe”Lydia Rogers of Akron sheds a tear for a loss of George Floyd as she protests against police brutality in front of the Harold K. Stubbs Justice Center June 3, 2020, in Akron.
Third Place, Portrait Personality - Jeremy Wadsworth / The Blade, “Rev. Prentiss”Rev. Prentiss Anderson, who was a member of Lee and the Leopards, sings during an interview February 12, 2020, at the J. Frank Troy Senior Center in Toledo. The group is credited with the first release on Gordy Records, "Come Into My Palace," in 1962.
Award of Excellence, Portrait Personality - Amy E. Voigt / The Blade, “Scared Mother”Kytrell Brown sits in the window of her apartment in Toledo on October 8, 2020. Brown was evicted from LMHA public housing with her son Adryin Brown, 6, before the national eviction moratorium for the pandemic was put into place. Brown and her son were forced to couch surf until she was able to take over the lease for an apartment of one of her family members. “I was embarrassed. I was hurt. I was scared because I didn’t have really nowhere to go. I was angry. I was afraid for my baby’s life. I was afraid for my life,” Ms. Brown said.
Award of Excellence, Portrait Personality - Madeleine Hordinski / Ohio University, “PJ Bolden”PJ Bolden, 8, watches TV in his hotel room in Cincinnati on March 23, 2020. PJ’s family has been staying in the Cincinnati hotel for a couple weeks. He and his family have been homeless since the end of February, and were forced to move into the hotel after the shelter they were staying in shut down because of the pandemic. Luckily, the shelter managed to find funding to help families. Thus, PJ is able to stay with his family in a moderately isolated space during the pandemic, but the isolation brings a lot of tension. He has to share one bedroom with the other three members of his family until his mom is able to find an apartment for them to move into.
Award of Excellence, Portrait Personality - Gaelen Morse / Ohio University, “Eyes on Justice”Cassandra Vickers, of Jamaica Plain (left) and Ife franklin, of Roxbury, pose for a portrait during Black Lives Matter demonstrations in Boston following the killing of George Floyd. “I’m tired of my people being murdered. I’m tired. I’m done,” Franklin said. “One of those most beautiful things about COVID is people had to watch tv. They had to see it.”
