Bowling Green, Ky. - A Western Kentucky University photojournalism student has received top honors in the 2005 Boston Press Photographers Association's student still photography contest.

Melanie Blanding, a junior from Roanoke, Va., won best in show and took first and third place in the portrait/feature category in the first collegiate competition ever for the 79-year-old BPPA.

Contest judges considered nearly 500 images submitted by 40 students from 10 colleges: WKU, Boston University, Northwestern University, Tufts University, New England School of Photography, Suffolk University, the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Brown University and Boston College. Awards will be presented June 4.

Blanding is one of six WKU photojournalism students who are national semifinalists in the Hearst Journalism Awards Program. Finalists will travel to San Francisco next week for the national finals.

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For information, contact the School of Journalism and Broadcasting at (270) 745-4143.

Office of Media Relations
Western Kentucky University
1 Big Red Way, Bowling Green, Ky. 42101-3576
Phone: (270) 745-4295 ~ Fax: (270) 745-5387 ~ E-Mail: western@wku.edu