WKU Photojournalists Honored For Africa Projects

March 27, 2007

Bowling Green, Ky. -Two Western Kentucky University photojournalists have been honored in the National Press Photographers Association’s Best of Photojournalism 2007 for their stories on the plight of women in Africa.

James Kenney, coordinator of the photojournalism program in WKU’s School of Journalism and Broadcasting, placed second in Enterprise Picture Story (small markets) while Melanie Blanding, a May 2006 graduate from Roanoke, Va., placed third in Serial Portrait Package.

Kenney traveled to Nigeria last August with International Volunteers in Urology (IVU), a group of medical professionals that visited the Evangel hospital in Jos. The team treated women suffering from vesicovaginal fistula, a condition caused by having babies too young. More than 800,000 women in Nigeria suffer from the condition and become outcasts in society, he said.

“My winning story was about how these women receive both medical treatment and training in a trade, so that when they are released from Evangel they can return home with a chance at a new life,” Kenney said. “The best thing about winning the award is that it gets this story seen. People need to know what these women are going through.” (Photos from Kenney’s entry are available online at http://bop.nppa.org/2007/still_photography/winners/UES/101700/182752.html)

Blanding’s photo project also tells the story of what women are going through in the Democratic Republic of Congo. As part of a grant from the Alexia Foundation, she returned to the African nation last summer to document the physical recoveries of women who suffered trauma and sexual assault at the hands of rebel factions in the region.

Blanding had traveled to Africa in 2005 with a group called Answering the Call.  “When I got there, I realized the extent of the violence, which had been taken out on women specifically,” she said. “I was really moved by that. I wanted to do anything I could photographically to raise awareness about the issues they were facing.”
(Photos from Blanding’s entry are available online at http://bop.nppa.org/2007/still_photography/winners/SPP/103373/184999.html. A story about her trip is available online at http://www.wku.edu/echo/picture.htm)

Four alumni of WKU’s photojournalism program also were honored in the Best of Photojournalism 2007.

Rick Loomis of The Los Angeles Times placed first in Environmental Picture Story and third in Natural Habitat. His photos also were part of the second place and honorable mention award winners in Best Multimedia Package (Large Affiliated Sites).

In the Best Published Picture Story (Smaller Markets) Jed Conklin of The Spokesman-Review in Spokane, Wash., placed second while Andreas Fuhrmann of the Record Searchlight in Redding, Calif., received honorable mention.

Guy Wathen of the Tribune-Review in Greensburg, Pa., received honorable mention in General News.

Additional information on the Best of Photojournalism 2007 contests is available at http://bop.nppa.org/2007/still_photography/winners/
               
More WKU news is available at www.wku.edu. If you’d like to receive WKU news via e-mail, send a message to WKUNews@wku.edu.

For information, contact James Kenney at (270) 745-6307.