Newhouse students win top spots in Alexia Photojournalism Competition

Newhouse students win top spots in Alexia Photojournalism Competition March 13, 2007Wendy S. Loughlinwsloughl@syr.edu

Two students in Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications were among the winners at the 2007 Alexia International Photo Competition, held at SU Feb. 24.

Jeffrey Fehder, a graduate photojournalism student, won first place. Veronica Wilson, a senior in photojournalism, received an Award of Excellence. This marks the fourth time in the competition’s history that an SU student has received the top award, and the second time that two awards have gone to students at the same institution — in both cases, SU.

“We recruit people from all over the world to compete in the competition, and work comes in from most of the leading institutions, so it’s especially pleasing when our students are honored,” says David Sutherland, Newhouse’s Alexia Tsairis Chair in Documentary Photography, who runs the competition.

The other student award recipients were Brian Lehmann, a senior at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (Second Place); Matthew Lutton, a junior at the University of Washington (Award of Excellence); and Deanna Alejandra Dent, a junior at Arizona State University.

The Alexia Competition, held annually under the auspices of SU, awards grants to photojournalists whose work gives insight into cultural differences. Six awards — one to a professional photographer and five to students — are given.

The 2007 professional award recipient was Alvaro Leiva from Madrid, Spain, and the Panos Picture Agency.

Fehder is an intern at The Post-Standard and was formerly a photographer’s assistant to legendary photographer Arnold Newman. Wilson is an extern for The Post-Standard and has worked for The Daily Orange.

For his first place award, Fehder received a full scholarship to study photojournalism at SU’s London Centre for the Fall 2007 semester, plus $1,000 to produce his story. The second place recipient received a half-tuition scholarship plus $500 to produce his story. The Award of Excellence winners each received a $1,600 scholarship and a $500 cash grant.

Leiva received a $15,000 cash grant.

The awards are funded by a gift from the Alexia Foundation for World Peace and Cultural Understanding, which was established by Peter and Aphrodite Thevos Tsairis to honor their daughter Alexia, a victim of the 1988 terrorist bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. At the time of her death, Alexia was a junior photojournalism student at Newhouse.

Judges for this year’s competition included Dudley Brooks, assistant managing editor of photography for the Baltimore Sun; John Long, photographer and editor for the Hartford Courant and ethics chairman for the National Press Photographers Association; Michele Stephenson, former director of photography for Time Magazine; and George Wedding, former director of photography for the Sacramento Bee and two-time nominee for the Pulitzer Prize in photography.

For more information, contact Sutherland at (315) 443-3370 or dcsuther@syr.edu.