A photojournalist at The Herald (Jasper) was named Indiana Photographer of the Year for the third consecutive year.
Visuals Editor Dave Weatherwax earned the accolade for his 2014 portfolio of photographs submitted for judging in the Indiana News Photographers Association contest in February.
Second place was awarded to Indianapolis Star photographer Matt Detrich. Former Herald photography intern and Indiana University graduate Caitlin O’Hara won third place in the same category.
O’Hara, who worked as a 2013 photo intern at The Herald through the HSPA Foundation’s Eugene S. Pulliam internship program, was also named the 2014 College Photographer of the Year. O’Hara’s work at The Herald continued after her HSPA Foundation internship.
In total, Weatherwax received eight awards. He was awarded the John Ahlhauser Award for “Who’s Going To Take Care of Paul?” a series that published last year about Lynda Burrows’ guardianship struggles with her mentally ill adult son, Paul.
The category encourages in-depth and long-term projects.
Weatherwax won first place in the feature story category for “Running Uphill in a Race to Capitol Hill,” featuring Jasper resident Tom Spangler’s bid for the U.S. House District 8 seat.
He also won first place in the news story category for “Trained to Protect & Serve,” a feature that followed Jasper Police Department officer Grant Goffinet through law enforcement academy.
His story “Muscle Bound,” which highlighted Jasper resident Alex Boehman’s 16-week training to compete in a bodybuilding competition, won first place among sports entries.
Weatherwax’s other awards included a first-place general news photo, a third-place feature photo and an honorable-mention sports feature photo.
O’Hara received five awards in the professional contest and eight awards in the college contest.
Her professional awards included a first- and second-place feature photo, a second-place sports feature photo and honorable mention in the portrait and personality category.
Her first-place feature photo from the Dubois County 4-H Fair was named Best of Show.
Her college awards included a first- and second-place feature photo, first-, second- and third-place news photos and first- and second-place sports photos.
Judges for the contest were Matt Stone of the Louisville Courier-Journal, Chicago-based freelancer Rob Hart and St. Louis-based freelancer Whitney Curtis.
– The Herald (Jasper)
