shameless self-promotion

Contest season is over and not surprisingly I got shut out of the major ones – NPPA, World Press & Pictures of the Year. That’s OK there was a lot of big news this year and some really powerful work entered and my stuff didn’t come close.

On the upside, the judges of the Virginia News Photographers Association’s annual contest apparently saw fit to recognize a fair number of my pictures this year.  Even more surprising was that I won a regional Edward R. Murrow award for News Documentary from the Radio Television News Directors Association for a radio piece I produced for the paper’s sister station WFLS about a local National Guard unit in Kuwait. Yes, you read that right – radio. I knew my telecommunications degree was not in vain and I was pleased to tell my long-suffering parents that their tuition money finally paid off, ten years down the line.  Holy $#!* – ten years since I (barely) graduated?!?!!  that’s a completely different story…  Anyway, the piece is now in the running for a national Murrow award but I’m not holding my breath… Check out VNPA.org to see all the winners.  Also, here are a couple of my photos that won in VNPA:

Sports Feature - First Place Colonial Forge's Joe Pantaleo jumps into the arms of coach Bill Swink following his victory over Fauquier's David Yost in the championship round of the 2008 Virginia Group AAA wrestling tournament at Oscar Smith High School in Chesapeake, VA on February 23, 2008. (Mike Morones/The Free Lance-Star)

Portrait - First Place Buddy Hayes of Chesapeake, VA , Miss Wheelchair Virginia, waits to give a presenation to the Lions Club with her service dog Ellie at Falls Run Community Center on February 27, 2008. (Mike Morones/The Free Lance-Star)