VNPA News

4/16/06 VNPA Student Member Wins Grant BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – A Western Kentucky University photojournalism will use a $10,000 grant to tell the story of rape victims in war-torn central Africa. Melanie Blanding, a senior from Roanoke, Va., is the student winner in the 2006 Alexia Foundation photo competition. Blanding won a $9,000 scholarship to study photojournalism at the Syracuse University London Centre and a $1,000 grant to produce her picture story on rape victims in east Congo. Blanding traveled to Sudan and Congo last August as a volunteer photographer for Answering the Call, a mission organization. “I originally went to Sudan and expected to make storytelling images,” she said. “When I got to Congo, I realized how severe the issues are there.” She plans to return to Bukavu this summer to complete her project documenting the women’s stories. As part of the grant award, Blanding will supply a collection of photographs to the Alexia Foundation. She’s already been invited to speak to a women’s missionary group at her church in Roanoke, Va., and she expects to share her photos and story with other groups to raise awareness about the situation in Africa. The Alexia Foundation student grants are awarded to photojournalists who can further cultural understanding by conceiving concise, focused and meaningful story proposals that further the foundation’s goals of promoting world peace and cultural understanding. The foundation http://www.alexiafoundation.org was established by the family of Alexia Tsairis, a Syracuse University photojournalism student who died in the bombing of Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. Blanding has had internships at The Flint Journal in Flint, Mich., and at the U.S. Army Public Affairs Office at Fort Knox, Ky. She is photo editor of The Talisman, the WKU yearbook, and a staff photographer for The College Heights Herald, the WKU student newspaper. She also is president of the WKU National Press Photographers Association student chapter and finished second in the 2004-05 NPPA Student Clip Contest and second in the 2005 Atlanta Photojournalism Seminar for her Student Portfolio. Blanding has twice received the George Smith Memorial Scholarship from the VNPA.

4/10/06 VNPA Members Win National Awards NPPA Best of Photojournalism Josh Meltzer / The Roanoke Times - 1st place Photographer of the Year portfolio (Under 115,000 circulation) - HM Enterprise Picture Story (Under 115,000 circulation) - HM Domestic News Kyle Green / The Roanoke Times - HM Photographer of the Year portfolio (Under 115,000 circulation) Heather Hughes / Daily Press - 1st place Enterprise Picture Story (Under 115,000) Chris Curry / The Virginian-Pilot - HM Natural Habitat Seth Gitner and Kyle Green / The Roanoke Times (roanoke.com) - 3rd place Multimedia Package (Small Affiliated Sites) Northern Short Course Josh Meltzer / The Roanoke Times - 3rd place Portfolio - 2nd place Spot News - HM Portrait/Personality - HM Feature Picture Story Mark Gormus / Richmond Times-Dispatch - 1st place Portrait/Personality - HM Sports Feature Southern Short Course Josh Meltzer / The Roanoke Times - Runner-up Portfolio - 3rd place Spot News - 3rd place Portrait/Personality Mark Gormus / Richmond Times-Dispatch - 2nd place Sports Action - HM Sports Action - 2nd place Product Illustration Sam Dean / The Roanoke Times - 3rd Place Feature Picture Story College Photographer of the Year Casey Templeton / James Madison University (The Roanoke Times) - Roanoke, VA - Gold Portfolio - Bronze Sports Feature - HM Personal Vision - Bronze Domestic Picture Story - HM Individual Online Multimedia Jeanna Duerscherl / Ohio University (The Roanoke Times) -Silver Individual Online Multimedia Atlanta Photojournalism Seminar Melanie Blanding / Western Kentucky University - Roanoke, VA - 2nd place Student Portfolio Casey Templeton / James Madison University (The Roanoke Times) - Roanoke, VA - HM Student Portfolio

4/8/05 Virginig Sports Hall of Fame –(Portsmouth – VA) The new Virginia Sports Hall of Fame & Museum is looking for great sports moments from across Virginia as captured on film or digital camera. The effort is part of a changing exhibit to be added this spring to the new facility designed to spotlight, collect and preserve sports and sporting photography within the commonwealth. Submissions to the Hall of Fame will be judged for possible display in the Hall’s main gallery and will be entered for consideration for a new Hall of Fame Photo Award to be presented next year. For more information, contact: Dan Cawley 757-393-8031 cawleyd@vshfm.com PDF download for rules

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