Congratulations to Hernando Sun Photographer Cheryl Clanton, who was awarded second place for her portfolio entry in the 2017 Florida Press Association Weekly newspaper awards. The judges had the following comment on her entry, “Balance of pictures are solid and challenge the reader to change the outcome. Great job.” One of the noteable photos in her portfolio was taken during Firefighter/Paramedic Steven Terry’s funeral procession. When we wrote an article about our entries earlier this year, this photo was featured. Steven Terry’s widow wasn’t aware that we covered the procession at the time and after re-running the photo she got in contact with us to obtain copies of the original article. She mentioned that the family did not have many photos of that day and was grateful we had covered it. It’s really about how our stories impact our local community, not about what awards we win.
We also placed second in the Best Reader Generated Photo category. Our entry was Bert Bodiford’s photo of his brother Ryan rescuing a calf (who they named Irma) from his flooded property in Brooksville after Hurricane Irma. The judges had the following comments on the photo: “The photographer managed to capture many elements to make the subject stand out. The center, where the main topic is contained is surrounded by woods. The man walking through water, coupled with the name of the calf, let the reader know what is taking place. Well done.”
