Photographers receive top honors in NPPA contest

Daily Herald photographers Bev Horne and Brian Hill received first place honors in the National Press Photographers Association's monthly clip contest for works produced in February 2019.

Horne received a first place in the spot news category of a townhouse fire in Aurora. She quickly realized that it was a devastating fire. "Great framing, effectively conveys the utter devastation of a fire" the judges said.

Hill received a first place in the portrait/illustration category. Hill was assigned to photograph Mama Lee's Gourmet Popcorn owner Chris Sumner after he received an award from the city of Elgin. Hill worked with the owner to create a fun photo which included a lot of popcorn throwing. A final idea to throw the popcorn at him brought the results Hill was looking for.

"We thought this was the best represented category, and this image was easily number one. It has great color, great composition, and it's a great emotion. This image is one of the images that sticks with you hours later," the judges said.

The Daily Herald was judged among newspapers in the association's Central region. The judges were David Andrews and Eric Wheatley of the University of Maryland.