General News – Kristin Murphy, 1st Place

Posted on January 5, 2024 by utahphotojournalism

judged by Sarahbeth Maney – @sbmaneyphoto – judge’s comments are below

Judge’s Comments:

All of the images were so impactful and thoughtful. My choices were based on the aesthetic/feeling of the photo and then story/caption details.

1. Poland refugees – This image immediately caught my attention because of the colors and smart layering, which shows the photographer most likely took their time composing this image in a busy environment. Beautifully done.

2. Foster care – I also love the layering in this image and how they photographed through the door frame, showing how tiny the bedroom is. I wish the photographer was pulled back just a bit more, so I could see more of Matthew cleaning up the tea party. This image tells such an important story about foster care and was head to head for number one.

3. Housing shortage – This image made me want to know more about Natasha’s story. The framing in this image is very dynamic and it’s so compelling to see this homeless encampment beside a new apartment building. I wish there were more details or a quote from Natasha included in the caption.

Humor – Kristin Murphy, 1st Place

Posted on July 26, 2023 by utahphotojournalism

Judged by Mike Terry

The criteria I tried to stick to with this selection was my first initial reaction and the speed of that reaction. There were a few that I found humorous after thinking about the incongruence of the image and message, but in the end I decided to rely on humor as pure a concentrate if possible.

To explain a bit further, I loved the photo of the signs that are in such abrasive colours with messages about firearms and a kids slide layered next to each other, but I think these are examples of a more subtle, ‘slower moving’ humour. One that might function with cynicism and darkness where the ‘humor’ in that image is more the salve that addresses what the actual message depicted, the reality of that collection of signs.

I just love the ‘miss’. A contrast of earnestness from the wide-open mouth and balletic stance with the perfect moment where it is very clear that what is supposed to happen will in fact, definitely not happen. Composition wise, it has a balance to it that helps it read very quickly. I hear Nelson from the Simpsons ‘Ha-ha’ when I see this image.

This is a great moment, a very childish expression that piques my interest. Is he annoyed at the other man, commiserating on a report about a shared adversary, sulking after being reprimanded as the position (backed against the wall) might suggest? This reminds me of some of those early LIFE publications that always had really dramatic faces and gestures, like the famous photo of Sophia Lauren looking at Jane Mansfield’s cleavage with not so subtle judgement at a dinner table. It’s a quick read and a bit transgressive as you’d think a politician would be a bit more polished than to roll his eyes like a teenager.

I imagine the photographer was probably not given much time to react, and I think the composition is just so balanced and nice in this image. That foot straight out just looks so confident and perfect. I also like the complete disregard of everyone around them as well.

Feature Photo – Francisco Kjolseth, 1st Place

Posted on July 25, 2023 by utahphotojournalism

Judged by @evan__cobb. Judge’s comments are listed at the bottom.

Judge’s Comments

Equine Businesses — This image is so clean and a strong demonstration of making a unique image in an everyday scene. Utilizing the low perspective paired with the layering between the horse’s legs and the repetition in the background is lovely. The only thing I am looking for is a touch of the horse’s head.

Spanish Fork Cowboys — Since I have a bit of knowledge of Utah County, I can recognize how impactful this image is. The obscuring of the kiss because of the hats is so spot on. I went back and forth if I thought the image should be cropped in some, but I think the space around the two and the balance between the tree/bush and the mountain on either side works quite well!
Krakow Meetinghouse — I love this engagement between the two. It also does a great job of highlighting the interaction between the two.

Pictorial – Trent Nelson, 1st Place

Posted on July 13, 2023 by utahphotojournalism

judged by Elyse Butler

People’s Choice – Rick Egan, 1st Place

Posted on July 6, 2023 by utahphotojournalism

The People’s Choice awards were selected by open judging at https://league.photo/unpa.php. Visitors to our site cast 5,144 votes over 30 days. This was the first year of this category.

We are presenting the top ten photographs as well as the top photo from each photojournalist who entered the contest.

Top Photos from all entrants:

Photo Essay – Spenser Heaps, 1st Place

Posted on June 30, 2023 by utahphotojournalism

Judged by Tamir Kalifa

Judge’s Comments: Water management policies and climate change are intertwined issues in the American West – the impacts of which cannot be understood without the other. This first place picture story ambitiously visualizes the crisis facing the West’s most critical river system, the Colorado River and its tributaries, by charting its path and introducing readers to a variety of individuals who each depend on it in different ways. The photography effectively balances the macro and the micro – contrasting sweeping panoramas with intimate moments in living rooms, on farms, and in the waters affected by this crisis – making a challenging topic to illustrate simultaneously vast and personal.

The Colorado River flows through the Grand Canyon at sunrise as seen from the south rim of Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona on Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2022. 100 years since the signing of the Colorado River Compact, the West’s most critical river system is in crisis. When the agreement’s signatories divvied up the Colorado, they may have been unaware they were basing their math on falsely optimistic estimates of its flow. They were, however, keenly aware they were allocating nothing for Native American tribes, Mexico nor the natural flow of the river itself. While the overarching Law of the River has evolved, the basis of it is still rooted in this document, and its repercussions continue to ripple along every bend of the river. Today, the Colorado and its tributaries provide water for 40 million people and support billions of dollars in agriculture and recreation for seven U.S. states, 30 Native American tribes and parts of Mexico. While demand continues to increase, drought and climate change have decimated the mountain snowfall that feeds the river. The Bureau of Reclamation and other agencies that manage the river’s water are scrambling to come up with operational changes that can reduce demands on the river, and have told the 7 states that make up the Colorado River Basin they must save 2-to-4 million acre-feet of water. Change has traditionally come slowly in the realm of western water policy. Despite the growing urgency from policymakers and the public, only time will tell whether enough change can be made before the river runs dry.

Kelby Iverson turns off an irrigation valve after flooding an orchard overnight on his property in Hurricane, Utah on Friday, Sept. 9, 2022. Iverson farms alfalfa and raises beef cattle and relies on water diverted from the Virgin River, a tributary of the Colorado. Agriculture uses 85% of the water in the Colorado River basin. No matter how efficient cities become, the river’s math will not balance out without agriculture playing a role in conservation. Because Iverson’s family first started irrigating land in southwest Utah more than 100 years ago, he enjoys some of the most senior water rights. Under the Law of the River, which is not one document but the amalgam of all the river’s regulations, those who started putting water to use earliest in time get the first right to the water, in perpetuity – a concept known as prior appropriation.

Kelby Iverson, right, his wife, Kathie, and three of their six children, Westynn, 17, Makadie, 10, and Daelyn, 15, say a prayer before eating breakfast together at their home in Hurricane, Utah on Friday, Sept. 9, 2022. To Iverson, feeding families is amongst the most beneficial uses for the region’s water. His family raises a relatively small herd of cattle and grows alfalfa to feed them. They also graze on federal land, but due to the ongoing drought there’s not much wild forage out there for the cattle this year, and he’s been forced to cut his herd in half. Iverson said he’s all for growing more efficient, but those savings don’t do anything to protect the bottom line of his business, because there is no mechanism to pay users for the water they save. “If I save 50% of my water, but I don’t have any farm ground to put it on … I just got a 50% haircut because I was more efficient. And I don’t get any more compensation because I took that cut for the water I own.” he said. “Where does it go?” That might change soon, though. At the meeting of the Colorado River Water Users Association meeting in Las Vegas in December, upper basin states including Utah gave the green light to a pilot program to pay users $150, or more, for every acre-foot of water they conserve. The money for this program will come out of money earmarked in the Inflation Reduction Act.

Glen Canyon Dam holds back the waters of Lake Powell in Page, Ariz., on Monday, July 18, 2022. The 710-foot-tall structure, completed in 1963, retains the second-largest human-made reservoir in the country behind to Lake Mead. Besides its role as a hydroelectric power plant and the robust recreation economy built around the reservoir, Lake Powell serves as a water savings account for the four states that make up the Upper Colorado Basin. As inflows have decreased due to drought and climate change, the water level in Lake Powell has declined more than 170 feet from its high point, now holding less than 23% of its capacity. Recent models from the Bureau of Reclamation show several scenarios in which both Lake Powell and Lake Mead could fall below “power pool,” which is the minimum water level that would allow water to flow through the hydroelectric power plants. If that should happen at Lake Powell, Glen Canyon Dam would have to rely on its river outlet works, which were not designed to deliver the 7.5 million acre-feet of water that the Upper Basin is obligated to deliver downstream under the Colorado River Compact. In August, Reclamation announced they would begin studying whether physical modifications can be made to the dam to allow water to continue to be released if water levels should drop below the designed minimum levels.

The Colorado River cuts its path through southern Utah near Moab, Utah on Friday, July 22, 2022. After 20 years of drought, the water scarcity problem in Colorado River Basin is compounding. While the region’s mountains are receiving less of the snowfall that feeds spring runoffs, parched soil and higher temperatures mean that an even smaller percentage of the spring snowmelt makes it into streams, rivers and reservoirs. To describe what they are seeing happen in the basin, some scientists have begun to move away from calling it a drought in favor of another term – aridification. While even the most pronounced and pervasive droughts eventually end, aridification is indefinite.

Eric Balken, executive director of Glen Canyon Institute, walks barefoot through Clear Creek Canyon, a side canyon off the Escalante River arm of Lake Powell in Utah, while on a media tour on Thursday, Oct. 6, 2022. This portion of the canyon only recently emerged from the receding waters of the reservoir, with the canyon walls showing the white mineral deposits of the “bathtub ring” left behind during periods of high water. “This is miraculous. This is amazing,” Balken said while hiking up the canyon. “The scale of change happening here is so hard to wrap your head around.” Balken has been bringing guests into these canyons for 14 years. Each time he goes the landscape is changed. Even on trips separated by only six months, the reservoir’s edge may be a mile or more farther down canyon — that’s how fast Powell’s waters are declining at times. Glen Canyon Institute is advocating for a “fill Mead first” approach to managing the Colorado River’s two largest reservoirs. Without enough water to support both, they argue that Lake Powell no longer serves its primary function, which was to store excess water, and that Reclamation should prioritize keeping Mead full. Through this, they hope to see the return of a free-flowing river through their namesake canyon, and to see more of the natural environment surface above the reservoir. Balken calls Glen Canyon the heart of the Colorado River. He points out that it’s bounded by Canyonlands National Park, Grand Canyon National Park, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and Bears Ears National Monument. “All of the most prized, protect land of the Colorado plateau, Glen Canyon is the heart of all of that.” To Balken’s organization and other environmentalists, the flooding of these canyons beneath Lake Powell was a monumental mistake. Now that so much of the area is resurfacing, they hope the public can gain a new appreciation for the landscape’s value. “It was such a tragedy t

Christine Rock brings fresh hay to feed her sheep and goats on her family’s property in the Douglas Mesa area of the Navajo Nation in Utah on Thursday, Nov. 17, 2022. The 30 Native American tribes in the river basin were not allocated any water when the Colorado River Compact was signed in 1922. The compact mentions them in only a single sentence, saying that the compact’s terms have no bearing on the United States’ treaty obligations to the tribes. Through a series of lawsuits and settlements, the tribes have now largely been recognized as holding significant and senior water rights, but for many that is simply “paper water.” Without infrastructure to deliver water to the people, it doesn’t count for much. While the Bureau of Reclamation spent lavishly over decades to develop water projects in the West, the Bureau of Indian Affairs was chronically underfunded. Today on the Navajo Nation, an area roughly the size of West Virginia, 1 in 3 residents lack access to clean drinking water at their homes. Rock has running water at her home in the nearby community of Oljato-Monument Valley, but must haul water from her home or community wells to fill an underground cistern at her mother’s home on Douglas Mesa, and for the livestock they keep there. For her family, keeping livestock is not a luxury but a necessity and a tradition passed down for all time. It also gives Rock comfort that her people will weather the coming storm, as water becomes increasingly scarce in the region. “One day, you’re going to be hungry,” Rock’s mother tells her, “and you’ll eat what you take care of.”

Melcita Stanley hauls water for her livestock to her property in the Narrow Canyon area of the Navajo Nation in Arizona on Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2022. Stanley is among the 1 in 3 residents on the reservation who lack clean, running water at home, but she always hauls water for her livestock first. She must make a run for water nearly every day, filling the 200-gallon tank in the back of her pickup. This day’s water run was almost derailed because the old, rubber hose connected to the community well in Oljato-Monument Valley had frozen up the night before. After trying in vain to beat the hose on the ground to break up the ice, Stanley had to call a cousin to bring a new hose down to the well. “That’s just what we have to deal with,” she said.

A small stream of water flows south in the Colorado River Delta in Baja California, Mexico on Thursday, June 23, 2022. Before the river was wrung dry to serve agriculture and growing cities, the delta was a verdant paradise inhabited by jaguars, beavers, deer and coyotes. But by the 1980s, with the U.S. utilizing the lion’s share of the river’s flow and the water that reached Mexico allocated exclusively for agriculture, the delta was decimated. Today, the river flows through a narrow channel surrounded by mud flats, meeting the sea only when the highest tide of the month pushes the saltwater high enough to flood the estuary and kiss the end of the river. And that is only thanks to flows released into the delta under a binational agreement between the U.S. and Mexico that allocates water exclusively for environmental restoration.

Manuel Machado Gerardo, 78, poses for a photo at his farm in Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico on Friday, June 24, 2022. Gerardo has lived and farmed in the Mexicali Valley for more than 50 years and has watched as the Colorado River diminished and the lush delta dried up. “It’s sad. And it’s people who are responsible,” Gerardo said in Spanish. “Mostly the government, they’re responsible for the lack of conservation.” When asked about the future of the Mexicali Valley and whether drought and the government’s policies will lead to its demise, Gerardo speaks with a cynical wisdom that comes from having a front-row seat to decades of climate change. “I’ve seen the climate change, and the pollution of the seas. I might not (live to) see it, but it will be because of the lack of water. It’s a huge problem. And it will get worse,” he said.

Gustavo Rosales, 23, and his wife Adriana Mendoza, 22, stand outside their home in the Los Laureles neighborhood of Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico on Saturday, June 25, 2022. Approximately 20% of the country’s allotted Colorado River water is piped up and over the Sierra de Juarez to reach Tijuana, home to 2 million people. It’s not nearly enough. The city’s population has doubled since 2000 and many neighborhoods lack reliable access to water. “We’re probably going to get the water cut soon. It could be any day,” said Mendoza, standing outside her home while her three children play nearby. “Monthly, they cut the water for a whole week, or sometimes two weeks, in different neighborhoods. Every month,” Mendoza said.

Edgar Carrera, the Colorado River Delta coordinator for The Nature Conservancy, swims in the Colorado River after taking part in a community cleanup event at a popular swimming hole in Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico on Friday, June 24, 2022. A few years ago, this section of river was completely dry. But thanks to a series of treaties between the U.S. and Mexico, water is being returned to the Colorado River delta expressly for ecological restoration. “When we started this, there was a lack of trust that this could even happen,” said Carrera, who has been working as a biologist in the delta for the last decade. A coalition of non-governmental organizations including The Nature Conservancy and The Sonoran Institute have put that water to use replanting native flora and trying to restore stretches of the river to its former glory. With that, the ecosystem has made a stunning rebound. The number of bird species recorded in the area jumped from 50 to 350, feeding on the fish that returned to the river, while a small population of beavers moved in. “We always take the water from the ecosystem, and this is the first time that we are working to put it back in,” said Carlos Restrepo, a monitoring specialist for the Sonoran Institute. “We don’t want it, we want the river to have it.”

Photo Essay – Kristin Murphy, 2nd Place

Posted on June 29, 2023 by utahphotojournalism

Judged by Tamir Kalifa

Judge’s Comments: This picture essay took one of the biggest global stories of 2022 and made it local. The pictures take us on a journey out of Ukraine and into an American suburb, a path undertaken by tens of thousands of Ukrainian refugees and refugees worldwide fleeing their own domestic conflicts. The photographer’s intimate imagery, which preserved both difficult and bright moments, brings readers closer to the emotional turmoil felt by those forced to leave their homes in search of a better, safer life.

Elvira Karnaukh, right, wakes up her children Kira Karnaukh, left, and Artem Karnaukh in Chervonohrad Kindergarten No. 12, where they have been living with dozens of other refugees for five months, in Chervonohrad, Chervonohrad, Ukraine, on Monday, Sept. 19, 2022. On Sept. 20, they left Ukraine to move to Lehi, Utah, with the help of WelcomeNST, a nonprofit that builds neighborhood support teams to facilitate refugee resettlement. They plan to move back to Ukraine as soon as it is safe to do so.

Graves of Ukrainian soldiers killed during the war with Russia are decorated with flowers, flags and photos in an overflow area just outside the fence of the historic Lychakiv Cemetery in Lviv, Ukraine, on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2022.

Artem Karnaukh, 5, plays with a toy gun outside of Chervonohrad Kindergarten No. 12, where he has been living with his mother, sister and dozens of other refugees in Chervonohrad, Ukraine, on Saturday, Sept. 17, 2022. On Sept. 20, he left Ukraine with his mother and sister to move to Lehi, Utah, with the help of WelcomeNST, a nonprofit that builds neighborhood support teams to facilitate refugee resettlement.

Artem Karnaukh, in yellow, holds his hands in prayer before all the students pray together for a brother of one of the school’s teachers, who was just killed in the war, on Artem’s last day in kindergarten before moving to the United States at Chervonohrad Kindergarten No. 13, in Chervonohrad, Ukraine, on Monday, Sept. 19, 2022.

Kira Karnaukh playfully pulls her brother Artem Karnaukh in for a hug in Chervonohrad Kindergarten No. 12, where they have been living with dozens of other refugees for five months, in Chervonohrad, Ukraine, on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2022. On Sept. 20, they left Ukraine to move to Lehi, Utah, with the help of WelcomeNST, a nonprofit that builds neighborhood support teams to facilitate refugee resettlement.

Artem Karnaukh sprays his older sister Kira Karnaukh with water from his toothbrush as they get ready for bed in Chervonohrad Kindergarten No. 12, where they have been living with dozens of other refugees for five months, in Chervonohrad, Ukraine, on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2022. On Sept. 20, they left Ukraine to move to Lehi, Utah, with the help of WelcomeNST, a nonprofit that builds neighborhood support teams to facilitate refugee resettlement.

Kira Karnaukh cries and her mother Elvira Karnaukh comforts her as they pull away from Chervonohrad Kindergarten No. 12, where they have been living with dozens of other refugees for five months, and start their journey to the United States in Chervonohrad, Ukraine, on Tuesday Sept. 20, 2022. With the help of WelcomeNST, a nonprofit that builds neighborhood support teams to facilitate refugee resettlement, they will live in Lehi, Utah, until it is safe to return to Ukraine.

Kira Karnaukh ties a bracelet on her mother Elvira Karnaukh’s wrist as they sit in a van and wait to start their journey to the United States, outside of Chervonohrad Kindergarten No. 12, where they have been living with dozens of other refugees for five months, in Chervonohrad, Ukraine, on Tuesday Sept. 20, 2022. The bracelets were parting gifts from other refugee residents of Chervonohrad Kindergarten No. 12.

Kira Karnaukh looks out the window on her first plane ride ever as the plane approaches Amsterdam, Netherlands, on Wednesday Sept. 21, 2022. After fleeing her hometown of Pavlohrad, Ukraine, and living in a kindergarten with dozens of other refugees for five months, Karnaukh, her mother and brother decided to move to Lehi, Utah, with the help of WelcomeNST, a nonprofit that builds neighborhood support teams to facilitate refugee resettlement. They plan to return to Ukraine when it’s safe to do so.

Artem Karnaukh, 5, meditates as he fights a fever while flying from Amsterdam, Netherlands, to Salt Lake City, Utah, on Wednesday Sept. 21, 2022. After fleeing his hometown of Pavlohrad, Ukraine, and living in a kindergarten with dozens of other refugees for five months, Karnaukh, his mother and older sister decided to move to Lehi, Utah, with the help of WelcomeNST, a nonprofit that builds neighborhood support teams to facilitate refugee resettlement. They plan to return to Ukraine when it’s safe to do so.

Elvira Karnaukh, Kira Karnaukh and Artem Karnaukh look at photos of iconic locations in Utah as they walk through Salt Lake City International Airport, after traveling from Ukraine, in Salt Lake City on Wednesday Sept. 21, 2022. With the help of WelcomeNST, a nonprofit that builds neighborhood support teams to facilitate refugee resettlement, they will live in Lehi, Utah, until it is safe for them to return to Ukraine.

WelcomeNST team members cheer as Ukrainian refugees Elvira Karnaukh, Kira Karnaukh and Artem Karnaukh arrive at the Salt Lake City International Airport in Salt Lake City on Wednesday Sept. 21, 2022. NST is an acronym for neighborhood support teams, which WelcomeNST helps build to facilitate refugee resettlement. Jason Norby, right, and his wife Kristin Norby, second from right, hosted the Karnaukh’s at their home until they found their own apartment.

Ukrainian refugees Kira Karnaukh and Artem Karnaukh carry a lamp and mattress as they move into an apartment in Lehi on Friday, Oct. 7, 2022. Through WelcomeNST, the family has resettled in Utah until it is safe to return to Ukraine. WelcomeNST is a nonprofit that builds neighborhood support teams to help resettle refugees.

Ukrainian refugee Artem Karnaukh reacts after checking out his new bedding as he moves into an apartment in Lehi on Friday, Oct. 7, 2022. Beck Norby checks out the room with him. The Norby family volunteered through WelcomeNST and has been hosting Karnaukh, his sister and his mother and helped find them their own apartment. WelcomeNST is a nonprofit that builds neighborhood support teams to help resettle refugees.

Ukrainian refugee Artem Karnaukh roasts marshmallows over a campfire as Lucy Norby cooks a hot dog in American Fork Canyon on Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2022. The Norby family hosted Karnaukh, his mother and sister in Lehi and helped find them their own apartment, through WelcomeNST. WelcomeNST is a nonprofit that builds neighborhood support teams to help resettle refugees. Behind them, Elvira Karnaukh, Beck Norby and Kristin Norby watch.

Photo Essay – Spenser Heaps, 3rd Place

Posted on June 28, 2023 by utahphotojournalism

Judged by Tamir Kalifa

Judge’s Comments: Apa’s inspiring story was beautifully captured by the photographer through a series of colorful and uplifting images. The story transports the reader to the Himalayan Mountain villages where Apa was raised and is seeking to give new opportunities to future generations. This essay does what good visual storytelling does best – it enables readers to travel far without leaving their home and brings them close to the unique experiences of others. The opening and closing images are particularly compelling.