“Strong showing all around” for Ohio University alumni at national photo awards

Ohio University alumni dominated top photojournalism and editing awards from the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA).

The impressive collection of awards included recent graduates and experienced veterans across the country.

Erin Clark of The Boston Globe was named NPPA Photojournalist of the Year for community coverage. She won a similar honor in the Picture of the Year competition sponsored by University of MIssouri.

Clark also placed in other NPPA Best of Photojournalism categories: honorable mention in Feature and third place in Portrait/Personality.

Clark earned a masters degree from Ohio University ’s School of Visual Communication in 2018.

Matt Gade , based in Rapid City, South Dakota, was second in NPPA’s 2025 Photojournalist of the Year-Community. Gade received a Knight Fellowship at Ohio University; he graduated with a masters degree in 2021.

Picture Editing

Alex Snyder , senior photo editor at The Nature Conservancy , was named NPPA’s Picture Editor of the Year-National; he also won second place in Picture Editor of the Year-International. Snyder has undergraduate and graduate degrees from Ohio University (2010 and 2012).

In addition, he won first place in NPPA’s Magazine Cover category and third place in Magazine Feature Story.

“Very grateful to receive these recognitions from NPPA - National Press Photographers Association Best of Photojournalism and honored to be among so many talented people whose work I truly admire,” Snyder posted on social media.

Anne Farrar , Assistant Managing Editor-Photography at National Geographic, was named Picture Editor of the Year-International. Farrar is Ohio University Class of 1993 (Photojournalism/Design). National Geographic was named Picture Editing Team of the Year -International. Farrar also won second place in Magazine Feature Story.

The Boston Globe won first place for Picture Editing Team of the Year-Community. At The Globe, Kevin Martin is Deputy Director of Photography and Lloyd Young is Picture Editor. They earned graduate degrees from Ohio University in 2007 and 2003, respectively.

In the Newspaper Front Page category, The Globe also won third place. The judges cited Young’s picture editing.

Pat Traylor , Senior Editor/Photography and Multimedia at The Denver Post , won second place as Picture Editor of the Year-Community. Traylor graduated from Ohio University in 2012 (Visual Communication masters degree).

ProPublica won third place in Picture Editing Team of the Year-National. OHIO alum Boyzell Hosey is Senior Editor of Visual Storytellilng at ProPublica.

Emerging talent, documentary, and Pulitzer Prize winning perspective

Like other competitions, NPPA’s Photojournalist of the Year program looks for rising stars. Joe Timmerman of Wisconsin Watch placed third as Emerging Vision Photojournalist of the Year. Timmerman graduated from Ohio University in 2023 (Visual Communication and Journalism).

Liz Moughon — Ohio University Class of 2019 — is a Video/Film Fellow at ProPublica. NPPA recognized her cinematography and editing on a short form documentary about school choice in Georgia.

Pulitzer Prize winning photojournalist Ruth Fremson joined 纽约时报 in 2000, with graduate-level training at Ohio University. Her work to document what happened to members of a girls’ basketball team in Tennessee won third place in NPPA’s Newspaper Feature Story category.

“It’s always nice to be recognized by our peers during contest season,” says Fremson. “It’s a competitive industry, and it’s no surprise to me that Ohio University alumni have had a strong showing all around. The intense graduate program that I attended was chock full of talent which made us all work harder to keep up.”