Eamon Queeney from The Columbus Dispatch and Jessica Phelps from The Newark Advocate have been chosen Ohio News Photographers of the Year for 2014 by the Ohio News Photographers Association. Queeney won in the large market category and Phelps won the small market category.
Finishing second in large market division was Lisa DeJong from The Plain Dealer and third was Andy Morrison from The (Toledo) Blade. Finishing second in small market division was Joshua A. Bickel from ThisWeek Community News and finishing third was Bill Lackey from the Springfield News-Sun.
The James R. Gordon Ohio Understanding Award was awarded to Jessica Phelps from The Newark Advocate, for her entry “Rising Up From the Bottoms” which told the story of the changing face of Franklinton, Ohio.
Logan Riely from Ohio University won the Student Photographer of the Year award. Jenna Watson from Kent University won the Larry Fullerton Photojournalism Scholarship. Isaac Hale from Ohio University placed second in the category.
Brooke LaValley from The Columbus Dispatch was awarded Best of Show in the contest for her entry, “Loss.”
69 visual journalists from across the state submitted 903 entries in the 64th annual news photography contest judged over the last two days at Kent State University.
Judging the competition were: Carolyn Kaster, an Associated Press staff photographer based in Washington, D.C., Kevin Martin, Associated Press photo editor based in New York City and Corey Perrine, staff photographer at the Naples (FL) Daily News.
Judging multimedia and online entries remotely were: Mike Kepka – Multimedia Columnist at the San Francisco Chronicle and Marcin Szczepanski – senior multimedia producer for the University of Michigan.
Eamon Queeney from The Columbus Dispatch was named Clip Photographer of the Year from points accumulated in the Association’s Monthly Clip Contest. Kyle Robertson from The Dispatch placed second and Andy Morrison from The (Toledo) Blade won third place.