Columbian staff photographer Alisha Jucevic and former staff photographer Ariane Kunze were recently recognized with awards in the 2019 National Press Photographers Association’s Best of Photojournalism contest.
Jucevic’s entry placed second in the Sports Feature Story category, and Kunze’s entry received an honorable mention in the category for Online Video Storytelling: Feature Individual.
Both entries were for the same story package, A Determined Stand, about then-5-year-old Austin Justin, who relies on braces for his legs and crutches or a walker for stability. Justin was born with an unknown muscle myopathy but hasn’t let this stop him from pursuing his love for hockey. He has his sights set on walking unaided and is making progress every day. “If he puts his mind to it, he can do it,” his mother Tabitha Fich said.
The National Press Photographers Association was founded in 1946. Its annual Best of Photojournalism contest features four divisions — still, video, multimedia and editing — and collectively represents nearly 100 categories. This is a year-end competition for photos and projects documented throughout the world in 2018.
