The Valley Observer

I spent most of the day in Lexington at Washington & Lee University at the SPJ conference. It was fun on a number of levels. I met some great people. For those who are not familiar with his work, Sam Dean is a very talented photojournalist with The Roanoke-Times. I’ve seen his work for years, but just met him today after he made a presentation.

JMU did well in the awards this year. Curio from last year, that I was a photographer for, won first place for Best Student Magazine.

For non-fiction article, JMU students Theresa Kattula and Carrie Muhleman placed first and second, respectively. Theresa wrote “Keepers of the Mountains” last year for Curio and Carrie wrote “Hope within reach,” also for Curio.

Here are my placings and the images in the photography division:
First place – general news – “Senseless”

First place – photo illustration – “Dinner’s hidden pitfalls”

Second place – general news – “Trumpeter”

Second place – breaking news – “Late Night Rollover”

Second place – sports photography – “Around the bend”

Third place – feature photography – “You only die once”

< ADDED 3.31 – For my audio of the complete presentations by Juliet Bickford of WTKR-TV3 (18 min – 16.4 mb): click here >

I also got some time to explore the campus and was impressed particularly with the architecture. Here is one image from the conference and one from my wanderings:

Democratic consultant Dave “Mudcat” Saunders takes questions from SPJ members during a mini press conference.

Washington & Lee freshman sociology major Catherine Cruse takes advantage of the weather by working outside on her laptop.

ADDED 3.31:

After my Towerlight buddy, Patrick Smith, asked if I knew where he placed, I dug out the recording I’d made (that I recently linked to above) and here are his places:

First place – Patrick Smith/Feature Photography – Surprise Snowfall
Third place -  Patrick Smith/Photo Illustration – Friend request – Your prof?

Good job, Patrick! The Towerlight is the student paper for Towson University.