Photography Categories
Top Honors
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Student Still Photographer of the Year - Luke Johnson, George Washington University
Second Place - Abbey Cutrer, University of Kentucky
Third Place - Anna Connors, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Video Categories
Top Honors
Student Video Photographer of the Year - Anna Connor and Aayas Joshi, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
General News or Feature with Narration
First Place - Ethan Hunter, Michigan State
Second Place - Delaney Rogers, Michigan State
Long Form Feature (Team)
First Place - Anna Connor and Aayas Joshi, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Second Place - Sarah Torres, Syracuse University & Universidad del Sagrado Corazón
Long Form Feature (Solo)
First Place - Maggie McIntyre, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Second Place - Jess Kszos, Rochester Institute of Technology
Third Place - Max Feliu Merce, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
2025 Student Still Photography Judges
Jabin Botsford is a staff photographer at The Washington Post and has been since 2015. He studied photojournalism and sociology at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, Ky. While attending Western Kentucky, he interned at The Washington Post, the New York Times (twice), the Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch and the Los Angeles Times. He primarily covers news and politics now and is based in Washington, DC. He was also named the 2017 and 2019 White House News Photographer of the Year.
Elizabeth Frantz is a full-time, contract photographer with Reuters based in Washington, D.C., primarily covering politics. Her freelance clients have also included The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, NPR and more.
Before freelancing she was staff at The Concord Monitor and interned at The Elkhart Truth, The Fayetteville Observer and PennLive/The Patriot-News. She studied photojournalism at Western Kentucky University.
Eric Lee is currently a 2024-2025 photo fellow at The New York Times covering Congress and the White House in Washington, D.C. He was previously a contract photographer at St. Louis Public Radio in St. Louis, Missouri in early 2024 and freelance photojournalist in D.C. Eric is a member of Asian American Journalist Association (AAJA), Diversify Photo, National Press Photographers Association (NPPA), White House Correspondents’ Association (WCHA), and White House News Photographers Association (WHNPA). Eric earned his B.A. in film studies at Gettysburg College and holds an M.A. in new media photojournalism from Corcoran School of the Arts and Design at George Washington University.
2025 Student Video Photography Judges
Hadley Green
Lance Ing is an award-winning Photojournalist/Editor/Producer at WRC NBC 4 DC with more than 25 years of experience working General news, Special Projects and Investigative news and both Winter/Summer Olympics. He’s worked from coast to coast covering stories with the goal of making them both memorable and unique. “I’m committed to telling compelling stories which have an impact and can make a difference in someone’s life. I believe quality photojournalism, teamwork and good storytelling are crucial to establishing a connection with viewers.”
Lance is the Consumer/I-Team Photojournalist at WRC NBC 4 DC. He helped launched Sinclair Broadcasting’s Full Measure with Sharyl Attkisson, prior to that, he worked for WTTG, USA TODAY LIVE, KATU, WZZM and KTVN. During his career he’s been fortunate to be honored with many local, regional, and national awards, including EMMYs, Murrow’s, AP Awards, NPPA Region 4 Photographer of the Year, WHNPA Photographer and Editor of the Year, and Michigan Photographer of the Year. “It’s an honor to be able to tell the kind of stories that can empower and touch the heart. I’m committed to telling compelling stories which have an impact and can make a difference in someone’s life.”
Nate Luna
Joann Sierra is an award-winning bilingual editor/producer with over 30 years of experience in visual storytelling. She is also a motion graphics animator using the Adobe Creative Suite. Currently a producer/editor with ABC News, Joann worked at CNN for over 27 years, including being a founding member of CNN en Español. She has also worked with Univision and Austrian Television.
Joann has been a collaborator in a long list of award-winning projects at CNN; and has produced, shot, and edited engaging investigative and feature stories, documentaries, dynamic promos, podcasts, show opens, and creative marketing videos for promotional campaigns.
Her work has been recognized with numerous awards from the White House News Photographers Association and the National Press Photographers Association. She has been nominated for an Emmy and has also been recognized with four team Peabody Awards, a team DuPont Award, two team Emmys, and a team Murrow Award for CNN’s news coverage.
Born in Pennsylvania, she grew up in Lima, Peru, and is fluent in English and Spanish. A graduate from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, she was honored with the Distinguished Alumna Award in 2020.
