2021 ONPA Pictures of the Year

First place, Photographer of the Year - Large Market - Joshua A. Bickel / The Columbus Dispatch

Keith Hodge (center) holds an umbrella for his date, Sienna Pritchard, as they arrive at the football field for their outdoor Prom on May 7, 2021 at Whitehall-Yearling High School in Whitehall, Ohio. It was the first large in-person event for these young people after prom was cancelled the prior year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and a return to a sense of normalcy. Also with them are classmates (from left) Brooklyn Daye and Peter Rankin.

First place, Photographer of the Year - Large Market - Joshua A. Bickel / The Columbus Dispatch

Alison Chesnut poses for a portrait with her son, Tyrian, 3, on June 14, 2021 at Adams Lake State Park in West Union, Ohio. Chestnut, who has lived in Appalachian West Union her whole life, came out as bisexual as a teenager. "Often times people do feel like they want to move somewhere else, go to bigger city, find more support and opportunities for romantic partners," she said. "But a lot of people find they lack of sense of belonging in urban spaces because of their rural identity." Her family, friends and community are overwhelmingly supportive and accepting of her. "There are still gonna be people who are going to be rude, hateful and homophobic, but when you get to the meat of everything we build these tight-knit communities and we look out for each other," she said.

First place, Photographer of the Year - Large Market - Joshua A. Bickel / The Columbus Dispatch

Hip-hop artist Jonah "Big Jld" Huggins records a vocal track during a recording session on July 17, 2021 at Oranjudio Recording in Columbus, Ohio. “Having confidence is the main thing,” he said of recording. “It’s more than just writing something. If you don’t have confidence and if you’re not prepared, your song’s not going to turn out great.”

First place, Photographer of the Year - Large Market - Joshua A. Bickel / The Columbus Dispatch

Church staff arrange flowers that speak out “BLM” before the cast of Andre’ Maurice Hill is brought to a hearse following his funeral on Jan. 5, 2021 at First Church of God in Columbus, Ohio. Hill, a 47-year-old Black man, was shot and killed by Columbus Division of Police Officer Adam Coy in the early morning of Dec. 22, 2020 after officers responded to a non-emergency call in the 1000 block of Oberlin Drive. According to body-worm camera footage from Officer Coy, Hill is seen inside a garage with his cell phone visible in his left hand and is shot within seconds of the interaction. Several minutes pass before any aid is rendered to Hill, who was known to the residents of the house and was expected to be there. Coy has been terminated from the division for his involvement in the killing.

First place, Photographer of the Year - Large Market - Joshua A. Bickel / The Columbus Dispatch

Counterprotestors and Trump supporters brawl as law enforcement officials intervene during a “Stop the Steal” rally on Jan. 6, 2021 at the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus, Ohio. Hundreds of supporters of President Donald Trump, including members of the Proud Boys, a far-right, male-only political organization, came to the Statehouse to protest the congressional certification of Democratic President-Elect Joseph R. Biden Jr., who defeated the incumbent Republican President Trump during the November 2020 elections and whose victory was certified by the Electoral College in December 2020.

First place, Photographer of the Year - Large Market - Joshua A. Bickel / The Columbus Dispatch

John Lavelle leads Columbus Crew fans down Nationwide Boulevard as they march to the inaugural match at Lower.com Field between the Columbus Crew and the New England Revolution on July 3, 2021 in Columbus, Ohio.

First place, Photographer of the Year - Large Market - Joshua A. Bickel / The Columbus Dispatch

Kyle Bucklew, 19, a junior at Ohio State University, plays a game of handball during practice with other members of the Ohio State Handball Team on Mar. 30, 2021 at Westgate Park in Columbus, Ohio.

First place, Photographer of the Year - Large Market - Joshua A. Bickel / The Columbus Dispatch

Members of the Ohio State University Marching Band's trumpet section cheer as drum major Austin Bowman does his third signature backbend during the "Three Knocks" tradition signaling the arrival of the band to the stadium. During this tradition, Bowman bends backwards until the plume in his hat touches the ground, then bangs on a metal plate affixed to the wall in front of him. After doing that three times, the band lines up in formation, ready for their pregame performance.

First place, Photographer of the Year - Large Market - Joshua A. Bickel / The Columbus Dispatch

Supporters against Critical Race Theory try to block a woman, center, as she yells, "Go home, racist!" to Republican U.S. Senate candidate Josh Mandel as he speaks during a protest against Critical Race Theory curriculum in Ohio schools on Sept. 21, 2021 outside the State Board of Education in Columbus, Ohio.

First place, Photographer of the Year - Large Market - Joshua A. Bickel / The Columbus Dispatch

Zack Frazee skins a harvested deer while working at Oiler Meat Processing on Nov. 22, 2021 in Utica, Ohio. The economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic has also created a shortage of meat processors, and employees here have regularly put in 12-hour days, 7-days-a-week since the start of bowhunting season in November.

First place, Photographer of the Year - Large Market - Joshua A. Bickel / The Columbus Dispatch

Marin Ackerman, 10, of Upper Arlington, Ohio, gets a bandage after receiving a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine during a clinic for kids ages 5 to 11-year-olds on Nov. 3, 2021 at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. The FDA recently approved use of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for use in children.

First place, Photographer of the Year - Large Market - Joshua A. Bickel / The Columbus Dispatch

Rachelle Knight poses for a portrait in front of a home shrine to her 19-year-old son, Dontreal Calhoun, on Oct. 11, 2021 in Columbus, Ohio. Calhoun, 19, was shot and killed on Jan. 3, 2021, left to die next to a trash can in a dark alley, the city’s fifth homicide in the first three days of the new year. "It's still breaking my heart," Knight said. "I still see that every day and every night, that moment. I still see it." In 2021, 204 people's deaths were recorded as homicides in Columbus, surpassing the previous year’s record of 175 people.

First place, Photographer of the Year - Large Market - Joshua A. Bickel / The Columbus Dispatch

Callie Schafer and Rachel Loomis are two women working with non-profit Living Lands and Waters, doing “industrial strength” river clean-up throughout the United States. In 2021, the group collected over half a million pounds of trash across seven rivers throughout the U.S. Most of that garbage – 355,953 pounds, or 63% of it – came from the Ohio River. It’s a source of drinking water for over 5 million Americans and a body of water experts say is polluted by a layered and systematic “environmental death of a thousand cuts.”

The group is many things: A river clean-up, a band of modern-day deckhands living on a barge, educators who host watershed conservation initiatives and workshops and even, a group of tree-planters.

“Recycling should be marketed as patriotic,” said founder Chad Pregracke. “And I think if more people thought about conserving America’s resources in that way, more would do it.”

Over the last two decades, the group has carved out a small pocket of positive change. Driven by hard work, education and empathy, their mission not just environmental restoration, but a bonding experience between each other and our natural resources along the river towns and muddy shorelines of rural America.

“This is one of those cool things that creates an outlet for people to do good,” Pregracke said.

Callie Schafer works to remove a mud and rock-filled plastic barrel from the Ohio River while working near Cincinnati. The barrel, which weighed about 300 pounds, was too heavy for Schafer and colleague Rachel Loomis to remove. They planned to come back and remove it with an excavator they keep on a river barge where they live and work.

First place, Photographer of the Year - Large Market - Joshua A. Bickel / The Columbus Dispatch

Already covered in grime, Rachel Loomis pauses while picking up trash along the banks of the Ohio River. “I feel at home here,” Loomis said of life on the river. “I don’t know how many people can say, ‘Yeah, I’m a teacher on a barge.’” Loomis has run into hundreds of volunteers over the years with contrasting perspectives or belief systems. But her work isn’t about convincing someone to sign onto an environmental policy. “We're just out here to connect to a source that we all use in our everyday lives,” she added.

First place, Photographer of the Year - Large Market - Joshua A. Bickel / The Columbus Dispatch

Callie Schafer (left) holds onto her hat while navigating down the Ohio River with Rachel Loomis, right, as the pair looks for a spot to do some clean-up work. Schafer recognizes that for everything the crew understands about garbage and the river there are many other people who are unaware of the depth of the pollution. “If you never get out of your small town or you you're not near any water, how are you going to know?” she said. “I'd be ignorant to think no matter what I'm doing it is making an impact or has an effect somewhere else — negatively, positively and everywhere in between. So that's why I just really try to be present.”

First place, Photographer of the Year - Large Market - Joshua A. Bickel / The Columbus Dispatch

Rachel Loomis tosses a plastic barrel onto the barge after a morning clean-up in Cincinnati. As trash is gathered, it's brought back to their barge, where they sort and store it before disposing of it properly. Their operation is made up of 21,000 square feet of barges: There’s one for humans, the house barge, two for trash, scrap metal and plastics and one for their excavator. In 2021, the group removed 355,953 pounds of garbage from the Ohio River.

First place, Photographer of the Year - Large Market - Joshua A. Bickel / The Columbus Dispatch

After finishing her work for the day, Callie Schafer leaps off the barge into the Ohio River. A self-described “lazy bum” before joining the crew, Schafer found herself back home in Illinois with her parents after a stint as a drummer in Oregon. A friend suggested she might be a good fit for the crew, which is based in the nearby Quad Cities. “I kinda just went balls to the walls,” she said. “Baptize by fire, I guess.”

First place, Photographer of the Year - Large Market - Joshua A. Bickel / The Columbus Dispatch

After working for the day, Rachel Loomis is reflected in a window on the barge as she cleans out a Jon boat, a small vessel that the crew uses to navigate to clean-up sites.

First place, Photographer of the Year - Large Market - Joshua A. Bickel / The Columbus Dispatch

Callie Schafer braids her hair before work in the morning. On her chest is a tattoo with the words “Have Faith” and her father’s EKG. In high school, her father had a heart transplant, and she got the tattoo before his operation. Her work on the barge fulfills her desire to be intentional in life.

First place, Photographer of the Year - Large Market - Joshua A. Bickel / The Columbus Dispatch

Callie Schafer, background, and Rachel Loomis, foreground, do a dance in their boat after successfully hauling some trash out of the river. “There’s only so much I can do as a human,” Schafer said. “You can’t tackle everything, but when we’re just focused, as a crew, on garbage, it’s helpful.”

First place, Photographer of the Year - Large Market - Joshua A. Bickel / The Columbus Dispatch

A small plant winds its way up a fence on the barge where discarded plastic bottles and styrofoam cups are kept until they can be properly disposed.

First place, Photographer of the Year - Large Market - Joshua A. Bickel / The Columbus Dispatch

Rachel Loomis holds up a water jug as they check out at a Kroger in Cincinnati. Though they live on the barge, they rely on a fleet of land-based trucks and trailers to move supplies from one town to the next. On slow days, the crew heads into the nearest town for water, gas and food, which is then hauled back to their home on the barge.

First place, Photographer of the Year - Large Market - Joshua A. Bickel / The Columbus Dispatch

After dinner, Rachel Loomis, left, and Callie Schaser, right, laugh while playing a game of cribbage on the house barge’s roof deck. The kind of 24/7 work, live and play atmosphere that defines life on the barge takes a certain kind of person. “You really got to be a team player out here, like, you're not in this for yourself, you're in this for this type of work,” Loomis said.

First place, Photographer of the Year - Large Market - Joshua A. Bickel / The Columbus Dispatch

Moonlight reflects off the Ohio River as seen from the house barge’s roof deck.

First place, Photographer of the Year - Large Market - Joshua A. Bickel / The Columbus Dispatch

SUMMARY: As one of Chillicothe, Ohio’s only drag performers, Jess Bowen is well-known in the tight-knit, rural LGBTQ community in this part of Appalachian Ohio.
Jess Bowen (center) and her wife, Cat Thatcher Bowen, embrace as LGBTQ activists speak on the steps of the Ross County Courthouse during the First Capital Pride Coalition's Pride Weekend on August 21, 2021 in Chillicothe, Ohio. This year's Pride Weekend was the largest the town of 22,000 has ever seen. "Growing up, this would have never happened," said Cat, a Chillicothe native. "It was so taboo, only a handful of people you knew were gay."

First place, Photographer of the Year - Large Market - Joshua A. Bickel / The Columbus Dispatch

Jess Bowen relaxes while at the First Capital Pride Coalition's information table during Pride Weekend August 21, 2021 at Yoctangee Park in Chillicothe, Ohio. After a childhood of chaos with a father who struggled with addiction, an absentee mother and distant relative who sexually abused her, Jess has learned to forgive herself. She prides herself on lending that empathy and support to everyone in her life.

First place, Photographer of the Year - Large Market - Joshua A. Bickel / The Columbus Dispatch

A small makeup box contains Jess's set list of two songs, mascara for Pedro's beard, and duck tape for her chest at her home on August 21, 2021 in Chillicothe, Ohio.

First place, Photographer of the Year - Large Market - Joshua A. Bickel / The Columbus Dispatch

While packing her bag before leaving for the drag show, Jess begins to get anxious when she can’t find a piece of her costume, asking Cat if she knows where it is.

First place, Photographer of the Year - Large Market - Joshua A. Bickel / The Columbus Dispatch

Guests wait to enter the Elk Lodge for First Capital Pride Coalition's Drag Show. The crowd of more than 300 packed into the venue for the show, which lasted more than four hours.

First place, Photographer of the Year - Large Market - Joshua A. Bickel / The Columbus Dispatch

Jess sits still as Cat uses mascara to paint a beard on her chin before the start of the drag show on August 21, 2021 in Chillicothe, Ohio. Cat is the only person Jess trusts to do her makeup when she performs.

First place, Photographer of the Year - Large Market - Joshua A. Bickel / The Columbus Dispatch

Now in full character, Jess gives herself one last look in the mirror as her transformation into "Pedro Grande” is complete. While performing as Pedro, Jess can let go of some the fears of being a lesbian in a rural town that gnaw in the back of her mind.

First place, Photographer of the Year - Large Market - Joshua A. Bickel / The Columbus Dispatch

Jess takes a tip while performing to a mix of Prince songs during the First Capital Pride Coalition's Pride Weekend on August 21, 2021 in Chillicothe, Ohio. "It's a bit of an out-of-body experience," Jess said of performing. "I really feed off the energy of the crowd."

First place, Photographer of the Year - Large Market - Joshua A. Bickel / The Columbus Dispatch

The crowd cheers for Jess as she walks off the stage following her final song during the First Capital Pride Coalition's Drag Show.

First place, Photographer of the Year - Large Market - Joshua A. Bickel / The Columbus Dispatch

Jess (center) relaxes with Jay Bowman, who helped organize the show, before heading on again during the First Capital Pride Coalition's Drag Show. As the show winds down, many of the performers chatted and drank with one another, marveling at the support and strength of the LGBTQ community in the town. “To think about the younger people, the ones who might have a bad home life, who don't know who they are just yet…to know there is a community of support is amazing,” Jess said.

First place, Photographer of the Year - Large Market - Joshua A. Bickel / The Columbus Dispatch

From Kentucky, a careful observer can squint beyond the banks of the Ohio River and spot the village of Ripley, Ohio. Nearly 200 years ago, freedom seekers traveling on the Underground Railroad would look to that village, beckoning them across. It was a beacon of hope for a world without the perils of slavery. The Rev. James Settles, the great-grandson of Joseph Settles, an enslaved person from Mays Lick, Kentucky. Joseph helped build the Beebe Chapel Christian Methodist Episcopal Church in Ripley, Ohio, and spent most of his life helping slaves escape through the Underground Railroad. James recently retired as pastor from the same church his ancestor founded.

First place, Photographer of the Year - Large Market - Joshua A. Bickel / The Columbus Dispatch

Marietha Bosley, the great-great granddaughter of Arnold Gragston, an enslaved person in Mason County, Kentucky who helped lead more than 300 enslaved people to freedom over four years. He later returned to Ripley after living in Detroit.

First place, Photographer of the Year - Large Market - Joshua A. Bickel / The Columbus Dispatch

Beth Robinson, the great-great-great-great-great granddaughter of Nathaniel Collins, an abolitionist, carpenter and Ripley, Ohio’s first mayor. Nathaniel was a carpenter by trade, specializing in coffins and cabinets. The family would often hide freedom seekers in the coffins they made to transport them from one stop to another.

First place, Photographer of the Year - Large Market - Joshua A. Bickel / The Columbus Dispatch

Amber Dudley, the great-great granddaughter of Lindsey Jackson and great-great grand niece of Polly Jackson, both freed Black conductors and key figures on the Underground Railroad. Polly was known to carry a butcher knife in her apron and keep a kettle of hot water on the stove to fend off slave catchers who came to town.

First place, Photographer of the Year - Large Market - Joshua A. Bickel / The Columbus Dispatch

Randy Sroufe, great-grandson Louis Porter Sroufe, an enslaved person from Kentucky who was just a baby when his parents sought freedom in Ohio. Records are unclear save a few verbal accounts from the late 19th century, and it’s unknown who Louis’s biological parents were; the son of his parents’ enslaver is one paternal possibility.

First place, Photographer of the Year - Large Market - Joshua A. Bickel / The Columbus Dispatch

Peggy Mills Warner great-great-great-great-great-great granddaughter of Betty Toler, a founding settler of a free Black settlement near Ripley, Ohio. This settlement was a refuge for freedom seekers, and this was one of the largest free Black communities in the region, which greatly increased Underground Railroad traffic through Ripley. Peggy still owns the land her ancestor settled.