2017 Tri3 Photography Competition

Final contest for 2017 created images.  All contest points accumulated throughout Tri1, Tri2, and Tri3 will determine the WPJA's next Photographer of the Year.

Award Winning Photographers from this Contest

Contest Judges

WPJA Judge since 2009 - David Stephenson is a freelance photojournalist and an Assistant Professor at the University of Kentucky's School of Journalism and Media. After hopscotching to jobs across the country for five years after graduating from WKU, Stephenson returned to his native Lexington and joined the staff of the Herald-Leader in 1997. He then left to join the Kentucky Kernel in... Read more

WPJA Judge since 2007 - Pulitzer Prize winner David Leeson is a Dallas-based photojournalist and visual artist, freelancing in still and video photography. He worked as a newspaper photographer from 1977 to 2008. Leeson was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize three times prior to winning the award in 2004 for photographs made for The Dallas Morning News during the war in Iraq. He has also... Read more

WPJA Judge since 2005 - Jeanie Adams-Smith left the Chicago Tribune in 2002 to take a position at Western Kentucky University where she has shared her expertise with students in one of the nation’s premier photojournalism schools. Her 10-year career at the Tribune culminated with her in the position of national/foreign picture editor during the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade... Read more

WPJA Judge since 2009 - Michael Ainsworth is a former staff photographer at The Dallas Morning News. A graduate of The University of Texas at Arlington, with a degree in journalism, he has won awards for his coverage of spot news and sports. He was one of the staffers at the DMN who were honored to receive the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News for their coverage of Hurricane Katrina and... Read more

WPJA Judge since 2008 - Preston Gannaway (b. 1977) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning documentary photographer and artist. Her work often focuses on intimate stories about American families and marginalized communities while addressing themes such as gender identity, class and our relationship to the natural world. The story she did on the St. Pierre family, Remember Me, was awarded the 2008... Read more

WPJA Judge since 2007 - Renée C. Byer is an award-winning documentary photojournalist and Emmy nominated multimedia field producer best known for her in-depth work focusing on the disadvantaged and those who otherwise would not be heard. Her ability to produce photographs with profound emotional resonance and sensitivity earned her the Pulitzer Prize for feature photography in 2007 and dozens... Read more