Aileen Devlin of Newport News win Grand Prize in Photo Contest

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Aileen Devlin of the Daily Press in Newport News, Va., was awarded GRAND PRIZE honors (as well as first-place in the spot news category) in SNPA's annual Photo / Video Contest.

Awards were announced at the SNPA News Industry Summit in Nashville.

One judge said: "Often visual journalists are blocked off miles away from the scene of a crime, raid or arrest. Getting there is only half the story, and getting the right image is another story. This visual journalist sees the whole story happening in front of her. I liked the fact that it is not the obvious, yet it tells the story clearly and effectively. The body language of the subject is clearly spoken, even when we are not seeing him."

Another judge added: "The situation almost becomes an illustration and an editorial commentary in this award-winning image. It captivated the judges. It was unique, but without being overstated. To me, this was the photo category with the strongest entries, and this photographer excelled in a very tight field with compelling, worthy images. The submitted work in this case was dynamic and unexpected."

One of the Photo Contest judges said, "When judging, we looked for photos that communicated a story.  Was it complete, interesting and compelling? Did it evoke emotion and draw us into the image? All of our winners accomplished that to varying degrees and deserve to be celebrated and recognized as the best of the best in photo journalism. The Spot News field had quite a number of worthy submissions, and the choices were not easy, resulting in much deliberation by the judging panel. We salute all those who submitted entries in this year's contest. It certainly made our task challenging, as well as rewarding."

View the winning photos and videos here

Awards were announced in two categories:  Readers' Choice Awards (voted on by SNPA members and their readers) and Judges' Awards (sponsored by The Associated Press).

Readers' Choice Awards:

Spot News

  • First-Place - Rich Cooley, Northern Virginia Daily, Strasburg, Va.
  • Second-Place (tie) - Rick Barbero, Beckley Newspapers, Beckley, W.Va., and Kevin M. Cox, The Galveston County Daily News, Galveston, Texas
  • Third-Place - Keith Domke, New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung, New Braunfels, Texas

Features

  • First-Place - Rich Cooley, Northern Virginia Daily, Strasburg, Va.
  • Second-Place - Rich Cooley, Northern Virginia Daily, Strasburg, Va.
  • Third-Place - Keith Domke, New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung, New Braunfels, Texas

Sports

  • First-Place - Rich Cooley, Northern Virginia Daily, Strasburg, Va.
  • Second-Place - Rich Cooley, Northern Virginia Daily, Strasburg, Va.
  • Third-Place - Rich Cooley, Northern Virginia Daily, Strasburg, Va.

Videos

  • First-Place - John Ballance, The Advocate, Baton Rouge, La.
  • Second-Place - Dave Morris, The Oklahoman, Oklahoma City, Okla.
  • Third-Place (tie) - Greg Singleton, The Oklahoman, Oklahoma City, Okla.; Tim Money, The Oklahoman, Oklahoma City, Okla.; and Rick Barbero, Beckley Newspapers, Beckley, W.Va.


Awards sponsored by The Associated Press:

Spot News

  • First-Place - Aileen Devlin, Daily Press, Newport News, Va. (and GRAND PRIZE winner)
  • Second-Place - Nigel Cook, Daytona Beach News-Journal, Daytona Beach, Fla.
  • Third-Place - Rick Barbero, Beckley Newspapers, Beckley, W.Va.
  • Honorable Mentions:
    • Amy J. Correnti, The Villages Daily Sun, The Villages, Fla.
    • Doug Strickland, Chattanooga Times Free Press, Chattanooga, Tenn.
    • Erin Williams, The Villages Daily Sun, The Villages, Fla.

Features

  • First-Place - Cindy Skop, The Villages Daily Sun, The Villages, Fla.
  • Second-Place: Chris Landsberger, The Oklahoman, Oklahoma City, Okla.
  • Third-Place: Matthew Hinton, The New Orleans Advocate, Baton Rouge, La.
  • Honorable Mentions:
    • Bruce Bennett, The Palm Beach Post, West Palm Beach, Fla.
    • Erin Smith, Chattanooga Times Free Press, Chattanooga, Tenn.
    • Malcolm Denemark, Florida Today, Melbourne, Fla.

Sports

  • First-Place - Robin Rudd, Chattanooga Times Free Press, Chattanooga, Tenn.
  • Second-Place - Chris Landsberger, The Oklahoman, Oklahoma City, Okla.
  • Third-Place: Kevin M. Cox, The Galveston County Daily News, Galveston, Texas
  • Honorable Mentions:
    • Scott Rogers, The Times, Gainesville, Ga.
    • Rich Cooley, Northern Virginia Daily, Strasburg, Va.
    • Cody Schmelter, Chattanooga Times Free Press, Chattanooga, Tenn.

Videos:

  • First-Place - Jenny Harnish, Beckley Newspapers, Beckley, W.Va.
  • Second-Place - Greg Singleton, The Oklahoman, Oklahoma City, Okla.
  • Third-Place - Tim Money, The Oklahoman, Oklahoma City, Okla.
  • Honorable Mentions:
    • Mike Ford, The Villages Daily Sun, The Villages, Fla.
    • Mike Simons, Tulsa World, Tulsa, Okla.

View all of the winning entries, read judges' comments, add your own comments and congratulate the winners! (Note: you will need to register free at the contest site before posting comments.)

This year's Photo/Video Contest was sponsored by Second Street.

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