Daily News photographers pick up national awards

The Naples Daily News’ photo team headed to Tampa on Saturday to accept group and individual “Best of Photojournalism” awards, including first place in the “Best Use of Photography” category for newspapers with fewer than 75,000 circulation.

Along with one top award, staff photographers David Ahntholz and Lexey Swall placed in the “Photojournalist of the Year” and “Best Published Picture Story” categories in the small-market divisions, which were judged at Ohio University in March. The contest is sponsored by the National Press Photographers Association.

The best thing the awards do is “it sends a strong message to the staff and the community that we have a strong commitment to visual journalism,” said Eric Strachan, assistant managing editor/presentation.

Even though Strachan and Director of Photography Judy Lutz mainly edit the photos for the newspaper, Lutz said that the top honor is an “all-encompassing award. It’s a testament to the teamwork.”

Strachan selected four issues of the Daily News from over the year to submit for the “Best Use” category. Photo spreads ranged from the devastation Hurricane Wilma caused to the simple life of a longtime Naples resident. Last year, the newspaper placed third in the same category.

For Ahntholz and Swall, the national awards are a first. Ahntholz was one place shy of first place in the small market “Photojournalist of the Year” category, but he took the top spot in the “Best Published Picture Story” in the small-market division. He won the latter award for the photos he took for “Passing Time on Johns Road,” which was a story capturing old Naples being edged out by the new Naples. Ahntholz and the reporter, Dianna Smith, spent about 1½ years on and off on the piece, which ran on July 3, 2005.

His latest project, upon which he worked with reporter Janine Zeitlin, documents the life of a teenage mother.

Swall got an honorable mention in the “Photojournalist of the Year” category. The photos Swall submitted included ones documenting life in a military academy and a trip to South Africa. She said the win is costing her a dinner because she bet another photographer that she will buy the other dinner if she wins.