Air Force officials honor top Public Affairs communicators

4/8/2010 - Air Force Public Affairs Agency officials here announced the results of the 2009 Air Force Media Contest in writing, photography and broadcasting April 7.

Winners in writing and broadcast categories advance to represent the Air Force in the annual Department of Defense Thomas Jefferson Awards Program later this month.

Staff Sgt. J.G. Buzanowski of the Secretary of the Air Force Public Affairs staff is the Air Force Print Journalist of the Year.

The Air Force Photographer of the Year is Staff Sgt. Clay Lancaster of the 1st Combat Camera Squadron from Charleston Air Force Base, S.C.

Staff Sgt. Kurtis Villavicencio of American Forces Network Korea is the Air Force Broadcast Journalist of the Year.

The contest is sponsored by the Secretary of the Air Force Office of Public Affairs and is conducted by members of the Headquarters Air Force Public Affairs Agency in Arlington, Va.

Winners in the other print categories are:

- Outstanding new writer: Airman 1st Class Joe McFadden from the 1st Special Operations Wing at Hurlburt Field, Fla.

- News article: Staff Sgt. Jake Richmond from the 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing at Joint Base Balad, Iraq.

- Feature article: Sergeant Buzanowski.

- Sports article: Staff Sgt. Eydie Sakura from the 341st Missile Wing at Malmstrom AFB, Mont.

- Commentary: Master Sgt. Russell Petcoff from SAF/PA.

- Series: Senior Airman Emerald Ralston from the 92nd Air Refueling Wing at Fairchild AFB, Wash.

- Art/graphics: Staff Sgt. Chris Ingersoll from the 100th Air Refueling Wing at Royal Air Force Mildenhall, England.

- Photojournalism: Senior Airman Marc Lane from the 28th Bomb Wing at Ellsworth AFB, S.D.

- Web-based publication: the 100th ARW.

Winners in other photography categories are:

-- Outstanding new photographer: Senior Airman Nathanael Callon from the 52nd Fighter Wing at Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany.

-- Combat documentation photograph: Master Sgt. Jeremy Lock from the 1st CTCS.

-- News photograph: Tech Sgt. Jeff Wolfe from the 56th Fighter Wing at Luke AFB, Ariz.

-- Feature photograph: Staff Sgt. Larry Reid from the 99th Air Base Wing at Nellis AFB, Nev.

-- Sports photograph: Sergeant Lancaster.

-- Portrait/personality photograph: Staff Sgt. Hueming Mui from the 439th Airlift Wing at Westover Air Reserve Base, Mass.

-- Illustrative photography: Airman 1st Class Corey Hook from the 28th BW.

-- Pictorial photograph: Staff Sgt. Jason Robertson from the 1st CTCS.

-- Picture story: Staff Sgt. Jason Lake from the 18th Wing at Kadena AB, Japan.

-- Best Stand-Alone Photograph: Sergeant Reid.

Winners in other broadcast categories are:

-- Outstanding new broadcaster: Airman Ryan Lis from the 374th Airlift Wing at Yokota AB, Japan.

-- Radio entertainment program: Senior Airman Jarid Watson and Airman 1st Class Lauren Lagudi from AFN Aviano at Aviano AB, Italy.

-- Radio spot production: Master Sgt. Christopher Eder from Headquarters AFN South/Network Production Center at Vicenza, Italy.

-- Radio news report: Sergeant Eder.

-- Radio feature report: Staff Sgt. Trevor Pedro from the Defense Media Activity Regional News Center-Europe at Ramstein AB, Germany.

-- Radio sports report: Staff Sgt. Robert Joswiak from AFN Kaiserslautern, Germany.

-- Radio newscast: AFN Aviano.

-- TV spot production: Senior Airman Zach Vaughn from Air Combat Command at Langley AFB, Va.

-- TV news report: Staff Sgt. Todd Kabalan from AFN Aviano.

-- TV feature report: Nick Tovo from DMA Hawaii at Hickam AFB, Hawaii.

-- TV sports report: Staff Sgt. Jason David from DMA RNC-Europe.

-- Local Television Newscast: AFN Misawa at Misawa AB, Japan.

-- Regional TV newscast: AFN Tokyo, Japan.

-- TV newsbreak: Senior Airman George Solis from AFN Incirlik at Incirlik AB,Turkey.

-- Video documentary: Senior Airman Zacharia Lopez from the 1st CTCS.

-- Video field production: 3rd CTCS from Lackland AFB, Texas.

In photography, only the best stand-alone photo advances to the Thomas Jefferson contest as DOD officials have a separate competition for photography.

This year's contest, which featured nearly 300 entries, was judged at the agency's headquarters by 10 civilian print, broadcast and photography professionals.