2022 Photojournalist of the Year – Small Market

First Place

Title slide
Gov. Gavin Newsom holds a press conference in the parched basin of Lake Mendocino in Ukiah, Wednesday, April 21, 2021, where he announced he would proclaim a drought emergency for Mendocino and Sonoma counties. Both Northern California counties are suffering from the second straight year of below average precipitation, putting a major stress on drinking and agricultural uses that serve nearly 800 thousand people.
Lake Mendocino continues to recede, approaching levels not seen since 1976-77, Wednesday, Aug. 25, 2021. In the foreground is the east fork of the Russian River.
Tule elk walk toward a green pasture over the partially exposed crust of Lake Pillsbury, Thursday, June 24, 2021 in Lake County. Pillsbury is the first line of water storage in the critical water supply in Mendocino and Sonoma Counties.
Will Holloway wipes sweat from his forehead during a 90 degree morning as he and his crew of Nir Berezovsky, Molly Levine, Carrie Myers (white shirt) and Gina Strathman harvest water intensive lettuce at LongerTable Farms near Santa Rosa, Thursday, June 17, 2021. The farm uses tertiary treated water from the city of Santa Rosa to water crops, but must use clean city or well water to prepare the lettuce for wholesale delivery. Holloway uses thousands of gallons a day.
After a late afternoon of paddle boarding, Ukiah residents Zach Kmeall, 17, and Jacob Mello, 18, walk 250 yards from the shoreline (on the dredged boat ramp) to their vehicles, Thursday, July 15, 2021 at Lake Mendocino east of Ukiah.
Desolated pastureland is punctuated by Jim Pacheco's spring fed reservoir, Friday, June 18, 2021 west of Petaluma. The spring is used as a fresh water source for the family cheese operation, the Achadinha Cheese Company (Osh-a-deen-a). One of his major springs never flowed this past winter and spring, forcing him to begin water deliveries by tanker truck in order to keep his dairy cows hydrated.
Receding water on Lake Mendocino exposes a sunken boat near the Bushay Recreation Area, Thursday, April 22, 2021.
At the foot of Coyote Valley Dam on the bottom of Lake Mendocino, someone spelled out "Jesus Saves" with arid drought cracked blocks of mud, Thursday, July 15, 2021 east of Ukiah. In the background are Ukiah residents Jason Hannah Campion, Aven Bevilacqua and Jason Griego with their dog Apollo.
The apocalyptic future? A vehicle under water since 2016, rusts in the arid lakebed of Indian Valley Reservoir, Monday, June 14, 2021 in Lake County. The lake holds 301,000 acre feet of water controlled by the Yolo County Flood Control District and was built in 1975.
Title slide
Santa Rosa High School students make the trek across campus to their prom on the school football field, Saturday, May 1, 2021 in Santa Rosa. The students were required to have a negative COVID test or be fully vaccinated. After a year with remote learning, and three years of evacuations from major fires in Sonoma County, the seniors voted to hold a 'Silent Disco'. The silent disco was to keep the neighborhood from being disrupted, and to also serve a sense of normalcy. The only catch was social distancing and the prom was limited to less than two hours.
Santa Rosa High School juniors and seniors dance at their prom on the high school football field, Saturday, May 1, 2021 in Santa Rosa.
Santa Rosa High School students hold their prom on the school football field, Saturday, May 1, 2021 in Santa Rosa. The students were required to have a negative COVID test or be fully vaccinated. Headphones were used to listen to music, so as not to disturb the neighborhood with amplified music.
Santa Rosa High School students dance at their prom on the school football field, Saturday, May 1, 2021 in Santa Rosa. The students were required to have a negative COVID test or be fully vaccinated.
Santa Rosa High School prom king Spencer Page, a senior is hoisted above his classmates, Saturday, May 1, 2021 on the football field at Santa Rosa High School.
Cleanup begins after Santa Rosa High School students held their prom on the school football field, Saturday, May 1, 2021 in Santa Rosa. The students were required to have a negative COVID test or be fully vaccinated.
A man in his early 20's is struck by a car at West Ave. at Sebastopol Road, during an impromptu side show and Cinco de Mayo celebration in Roseland, Wednesday, May 5, 2021. The crowd came in and carried the man away with unknown injuries.
Winterblast in the SOFA district of Santa Rosa, Saturday, Nov. 6, 2021.
Rev. Balaswamy Govindu leads an outdoor mass at St. Teresa of Avila Roman Catholic Church in Bodega, Sunday, Feb. 7, 2021. Services are being held outdoors in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Santa Rosa city firefighter Mike Johnson comforts and gives oxygen to Appa, after Johnson rescued the pup from an apartment fire on Burt Ave. in Santa Rosa, Saturday night May 22, 2021. Appa was taken to an emergency vet to be checked out. The fire displaced several families who sought help from the Red Cross.
The families of graduates Janelle Santos and Vince Bjazevic record the moment as the two graduate from Sonoma State University in Rohnert Park, Saturday, May 22, 2021.
Gus St. Marie with the Redwood Empire Classics Car Club and Apple Blossom Parade spectator Karli Irons of Sebastopol, dance to 50's music near the end of the parade.
Jo Jo Garcia applies strongly diluted Round-Up to a mustard crop on Dry Creek Road in Healdsburg, Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2021 as wine grapes are prepped for bud break.
Juan Sanchez, a 52 year employee of Dutton Ranch in Graton, Tuesday, Nov. 16, 2021. He is the head supervisor for the ranch, a position he's held for 25 years.
Title slide
Two straight years of devastating drought fuels flames as the Dixie Fire pummels Keddie Ridge that borders the Plumas and Lassen National Forests making a strong push into Indian Valley east of Greenville, Monday, Aug. 9, 2021. Keddie peak is 5,663 feet in elevation. The summer of 2021 saw nearly 3 million acres of California forest and wildland burned, displacing thousands of residents and destroying thousands of homes. The Dixie burned nearly 970 thousand acres before the blaze was contained, one of two large fires to burn in the Sierra Nevada mountain range in elevations from 3,000 to 11,000 feet and became California's single largest fire in recorded history.
Joe Kikuchi of Pacific Gas and Electric moved to cars to safety as a house in Marina Estates above Lake Mendocino on the Hopkins fire burns, Sunday, Sept. 12, 2021 near Calpella.
The Tehachapi Valley 11 fire crew cut 11 miles of fire break in the Rush Creek area of the Feather River Canyon, July 25, 2021 during the Dixie fire.
With most of her personal possessions packed in the truck bed, Chester resident Regina Rutledge takes comfort in Allie and Sally Sue, Monday, Aug. 9, 2021. Chester residents were evacuated to Susanville after the Dixie fire threatened the town. After firefighters forced the fire around Chester last week, the Dixie is threatening to enter Susanville.
Mel Smothers of South Lake Tahoe passes the time with a violin while being stuck in an epic evacuation backup, Monday, August 30, 2021, as the Caldor fire bears down on the region.
An MD-87 Erickson Aero Tanker is used to make a drop on the Coyote fire at Hidden Valley Lake, Friday, Aug 13, 2021, that burned 100 acres and threatened several homes.
The skeletons of burned mobile homes from the Cache fire in the Creekside Mobile Home Park. Wednesday, August 25, 2021 in Lower Lake. The Cache burned 84 homes in the less than 25 minutes, pushed by strong winds and drought stetted vegetation.
Garth Foster, who fells trees for the Barry Mickleburgh Tree Company, of Grass Valley, rests after cutting hazard trees in the Highway 89 corridor, Sunday, Aug. 8, 2021. "We cut out the hazards so firefighters stay safe during mop up" he says. The Dixie fire continues to burn in to forest land.
Firefighters with the South Lake Tahoe Zephyr hand crew take a quick moment to sharpen their chainsaw blades, August 30, 2021, as the Caldor fire threatens to enter Christmas Valley where firefighters are constructing fire breaks.
Smoke from the Dixie fire hangs in the air as television lights eerily illuminate a burned hotel and dinner house in downtown Greenville. Monday, Aug. 9, 2021. The gold rush era town was flattened by the Dixie fire on August 4, 2021, razing over 1,200 structures.

Kent Porter/The Press Democrat

Second Place

LSU Shreveport’s Miguel Morgan (25) squats teammate Sebastian Selway (24) as the team gets hyped up to play Southeastern in Game 7 of the NAIA World Series at Harris Field in Lewiston, Idaho on Saturday, May 29, 2021.
A bolt of lighting strikes over Lewiston, Idaho, behind the Interstate Bridge that spans the Snake River into Clarkston, Wash. on the morning of Thursday, July 1, 2021. Multiple thunderstorms moved through the area on Wednesday evening into Thursday morning.
Kayleigh Hellickson, 9, of Clarkston, goes down a circular slide backwards while playing with her older brother, Darien, 11, and younger sister, Emma, 2, at Beachview Park in Clarkston, Wash., on Thursday, Sept. 23, 2021.
Boys and Girls Club staff members Ty Wallace and Brayden Rice spray down boys with sun block prior to them jumping into Bert Lipps Pool on Wednesday, June 23, 2021, in Lewiston, Idaho. Wednesday’s temperatures were in the upper 90s and was the beginning of a long heat wave that hit the Lewiston-Clarkston Valley.
A man trying to dig a line between a structure and a burning post takes a second to catch his breath as a water cannon atop a Lewiston Fire Department truck sprays down a burning stack of hay near the Lewiston Livestock Market on East Main Street in Lewiston, Idaho on Sunday, July 4, 2021.
Lewis-Clark State head coach Jake Taylor (left) and Sam Linscott sit in the dugout as shadows of players walking along the outside of the dugout are seen in the bricks behind the bench as the sun sets prior to the Warriors’ opening round game against Faulkner in the NAIA World Series at Harris Field in Lewiston, Idaho, on Friday, May 28, 2021.
Candace Cook holds a garbage bag containing belongings as she walks away from her Ford Explorer that caught fire as firefighters from the Clarkston Fire Department work to put out the blaze in a parking lot on the corner of Third Street and Diagonal Street on Tuesday, April 6, 2021, in Clarkston, Wash. As Cook was headed westbound across the Interstate Bridge she was alerted to her car smoking, she then pulled over and got out before the vehicle was engulfed in flames just before 11 a.m. No injuries were reported in the incident.
Jamie Hopper lets a tiny bird sit on her finger while sitting on the sand underneath the Interstate Bridge along the Greenbelt Walkway in Clarkston, Wash. on Wednesday, June 30, 2021. Hopper said she found the bird struggling to get out of the water and that it couldn’t fly so she as taking care of it for the afternoon.
Jason Heatherly, a truck driver with Roche Diagnostics walks past the trailer with a branch that got caught in his cab while he was parking the semi-truck in lot near St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center on Thursday, April 29, 2021, in Lewiston, Idaho. Heatherly, who hails from Indianapolis, Ind., travels with the truck carrying a mobile training center around the country showcasing Roche Diagnostics technology and offering learning opportunities to personnel at hospitals.
Exhausted racers collapse or after crossing the finish line while others rely on teammates to support them after the Cascade Collegiate Conference women’s cross-country championship race on Friday, March 26, 2021, at Community Park in Lewiston, Idaho.
Lewiston’s Tyson Knapp tosses Lake City’s Wyatt Matthews across the mat during their 132-pound weight classification match on Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2021, in Lewiston, Idaho. Knapp won by technical fall, 17-2.
After sliding around the Upper Valley catcher to score safely, Moscow’s C.J. Anderson is covered with dirt as he gets up and walks back to the dugout in the bottom of the sixth inning of a loser-out game at the Legion A state baseball tournament Wednesday, July 28, 2021, at Harris Field in Lewiston, Idaho.
After scoring a rushing touchdown, Lapwai running back Mason Brown (right) celebrates while getting help for leg cramps from his teammate Ahlius Yearout during the third quarter of a Whitepine League game against Kamiah on Friday, Sept. 17, 2021, in Lapwai, Idaho.
Pullman’s Riley Pettit fights for a rebound with Clarkston’s Dawson Blunt (30) and Mason VanTine during the fourth quarter of a Greater Spokane League game on Friday, June 11, 2021, in Clarkston, Wash.
Sunshine breaks through the cloud cover as a runner jogs along the Lewiston Levee Parkway Trail on Thursday, April 22, 2021, in Lewiston, Idaho.
Lapwai players celebrate by spraying each other with water bottles in the locker room after beating Riverstone, 82-60, to win the Class 1A Division I state championship game on Friday, March 5, 2021, at the Idaho Center in Nampa, Idaho.
After knocking down a hard hit ground ball, Kamiah second baseman Herschel Williamson fights through the dust to make a throw to first during the bottom of the fifth inning of the Class 1A Division I district baseball tournament championship game against Genesee on Friday, May 14, 2021, in Orofino, Idaho. The runner at first was called safe.
A boat heads down the Snake River as smoke from the Asotin Complex Fire west of Clarkston, Wash., wafts eastward into Lewiston, Idaho on Wednesday, July 7, 2021. A thunderstorm that passed through the Lewiston-Clarkston Valley early Wednesday morning set off multiple fires across the region. By Wednesday night two large fires emerged on both the Idaho and Washington side of the Snake River. Both fires eventually turned into the Asotin Complex Fire on the Washington state side and the Snake River Complex Fire on the Idaho side. Type 2 incident teams were quickly sent to the area along with hundreds of wildland firefighters from across the country. Combined the fires have burned nearly 180,000 acres of land.
Three men, who asked to not be identified, watch as the Asotin Creek Fire spreads westward across the rugged terrain of southwest Washington on Wednesday, July 7, 2021, west of Asotin, Wash.
Summer Waltari waters the roof of her home on Asotin Creek Road as fire burns on the hillside to the west of her home on Wednesday, July 7, 2021, outside of Asotin, Wash.
Flames from the Snake River Complex fire can be seen atop the canyon sides and even near the banks of the Snake River on Friday, July 9, 2021, as seen from Snake River Road south of Asotin, Wash. The Snake River divides the southwestern part of Washington and north central Idaho.
A man driving a four-wheeler maneuvers past large flames from the Snake River Complex fire that reached the bottom of the Snake River canyon south of Lewiston, Idaho, on Friday, July 9, 2021.
A tree catches fire as a crew prepares to head out to secure a fire line atop Harlow Ridge on Monday afternoon at the Lick Creek fire on Monday, June 12, 2021, south of Asotin, Wash.
Wildland firefighters watch as a plane drops retardant on top of Harlow Ridge just east of where crews were building a fire line to keep the Lick Creek Fire in the gulch below on Monday, July 12, 2021, off of Cloverland Road south of Asotin, Wash.
After a plane dropped fire retardant onto a ridge wildland firefighters prepare to continue working on creating a fire line as the Lick Creek Fire began to move up the nearby hill on Monday, July 12, 2021, south of Asotin, Wash.
After lighting a fire line to burn up fuel for the Lick Creek fire, a crew of wildland firefighters begin to put out the flames on Monday, July 12, 2021, south of Asotin, Wash.
Members of a crew of wildland firefighters from PR Reforestation, out of Vancouver, Wash., dig away at hot spots underneath stumps and brush as they mop up after flames from the Snake River Complex Fire swept through the area earlier in the week south of Lewiston, Idaho, on Thursday, July 15, 2021.
A firefighter hydrates while surrounded by a smoldering canyon side that caught fire due to a lightning strike on the morning Wednesday, July 7, 2021, west of Clarkston, Wash. As the fire died down, the winds picked up and the fire erupted burning over 9,000 acres of land near the Snake River. The quick change in weather would become a common theme for wildland firefighters battling multiple blazes across the rugged terrain of north central Idaho and southwestern Washington.
The Lewis-Clark State dugout celebrates after Luke White’s (32) 2-run home run in the top of the fifth inning against LSU Shreveport in Game 9 of the NAIA World Series at Harris Field in Lewiston, Idaho, on Monday, May 31, 2021. White home run gave the Warriors the lead.
Jeff Port, of Clarkston, cools off underneath sprinklers outside Ed Cheff Stadium during the Game 16 of the NAIA World Series between Lewis-Clark State and Central Methodist in Lewiston, 2021 on Wednesday, June 2, 2021. Temperatures reached over 100-degrees in the afternoon on Wednesday and the stadium had multiple cooling stations for fans. Port was making a business call on his cell phone while cooling off.
Georgia Gwinnett starting pitcher Hunter Dollander has a cold towel wrapped around his head in between innings as relief pitcher Hunter Caudelle (40) looks off into the distance during Game 18 of the NAIA World Series against Central Methodist at Harris Field in Lewiston, Idaho, on Thursday, June 3, 2021.
Faulkner catcher Jonathan Villa dives in an attempt to tag out Indiana Southeast’s Jake Scott (9) as he tags up on a fly ball from third base during the bottom of the second inning of Game 14 of the NAIA World Series at Harris Field in Lewiston, Idaho, on Tuesday, June 1, 2021.
After entering the game with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth with no outs, Lewis-Clark State reliever Greg Blackman celebrates after getting three consecutive outs to end Game 9 of the NAIA World Series at Harris Field in Lewiston, Idaho on Monday, May 31, 2021.
Central Methodist players look on as Sergio Macias lines out to Georgia Gwinnett left fielder Griffin Keller during the bottom of the sixth inning of Game 15 of the NAIA World Series at Harris Field in Lewiston, Idaho on Tuesday, June 1, 2021.
The throw beats Georgia Gwinnett’s Chase Evans (34) to third base before he is tagged out at by Central Methodist’s Grant Victor (20) on a fielder’s choice in the bottom of the second inning of Game 18 of the NAIA World Series at Harris Field in Lewiston, Idaho on Thursday, June 3, 2021.
The sun dips below a cloud as it begins to set while Georgia Gwinnett starter Hunter Dollander delivers a pitch to a Central Methodist batter during the top of the third inning of Game 18 of the NAIA World Series on Thursday, June 3, 2021, at Harris Field in Lewiston, Idaho.
Georgia Gwinnett’s J.D. Stubbs (23) waits on deck with a toothpick in his mouth as teammate Kyle Harvey faces Central Methodist Dylan Brister (13) during the bottom of the first inning of Game 18 of the NAIA World Series at Harris Field in Lewiston on Thursday night. Gwinnett players said Stubbs always has a toothpick in his mouth.
Lewis-Clark State’s Jack Johnson sits on an empty bench as Matt James leaves the dugout after the Warriors lost to Central Methodist, 8-5, in Game 16 of the NAIA World Series at Harris Field in Lewiston, Idaho, on Wednesday, June 2, 2021. The loss eliminated the Lewis-Clark State from the NAIA World Series.
Georgia Gwinnett players celebrate in a dog pile after beating Central Methodist, 8-4, to win the NAIA World Series at Harris Field in Lewiston, Idaho on Thursday, June 3, 2021.