Click on any linked description to view the winning image!

Spot News 1st Place Winner

Mennonite Joyce Sauder watches as a wildfire rages behind her house in Fox Creek on Tues, May 8, 2007. Sauder said that as she saw the flames approaching, "I prayed about it and it's whatever happens, happens."

Spot News 2nd Place Winner

Charleston Fire Department Captain Richard Waring helps rescue motorcyclist Benjamin Fischer, 17, from the marsh mud beneath the James Island Connector in Charleston, S.C., after a crash that sent him off the bridge. Fischer told rescuers he was not seriously hurt. The drop was estimated at over 60 feet.

Spot News 3rd Place Winner

Mike Eubanks takes a moment to reflect and have a cold drink after crawling out of his truck which flipped over when hit by another truck on Jackson near Macon Tuesday afternoon. Eubanks was not wearing his seatbelt and felt that helped to saved his life.

General News 1st Place Winner

Petty Officer 1st Class Mike Wyche kisses his wife Jamie, as they are hugged by their children Cary, 5, Holly, 13 and Jakob, 5, (not shown) as the HS-5 "Nightdippers" return to Naval Air Station Jacksonville after an eight-month deployment.

General News 2nd Place Winner

Amy Sanders, 31, covers her face during a wildfire that threatens her family's property, at back, near C.R. 1471 north in Alachua County.

General News 3rd Place Winner

Jessica Flinn, right, kisses her best friend Carl Dearborne as he walks down the aisle after receiving his diploma at Palmetto Ridge High School. The two were among 350 students to graduate from their class.

Sports 1st Place Winner

Clearwater Central Catholic #6 Matt Morelli is tagged out by Melbourne Central Catholic #7 Greg Milliard at 3rd base while trying for a triple in the 3rd inning of the Class 3A region semifinal baseball game on May 4.

Sports 2nd Place Winner

Tampa Bay Devil Rays third baseman Ty Wigginton attempts to get the tag down while being slid into by Florida Marlins Hanley Ramirez as Ramirez stole second base on an error thrown by Rays catcher Dioner Navarro during ninth inning action at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg. Ramirez was safe on the play but came up injured, yet remained in the game.

Sports 3rd Place Winner

Northern Nash shortstop Andrew Webb, top, falls over C.B. Aycock's Will Edgerton after making the tag for the out as Edgerton attempted to steal second base in the first inning Thursday in Pikeville.

Feature / Single Picture 1st Place Winner

Autumn Thompson, 24, left, and Aimee Gayaut, 27, (both) of Gainesville, Florida, enjoy a dip in a spring at the Ichetucknee River.

Feature / Single Picture 2nd Place Winner

Elliott Martin, 4, of Watkinsville reaches up to pay for his Star Wars commemorative stamps at the post office in Watkinsville Friday afternoon.

Feature / Single Picture 3rd Place Winner

Lucica Marc was sleeping in her house in Haiti in 2005, then 6, when her house caught fire. When Lucica arrived at the hospital, her chin was melting into her upper chest and her arms were stuck to the sides of her rib cage. The nurses tried to separate them but Lucica's agonized screams stopped them. So her chin fused to her chest and her arms glued to her sides.

Feature / Multiple Pictures 1st Place Winner

The sun rises near Pack's Flats on Lake Marion a pristine area has become a battleground over a proposed bridge. The story is about a congressman, a bridge and a swamp, history, race, class, land and power. It asks: What do we want South Carolina to look like. The bridge would connect Rimini to Lone Star, which have been referred to as "ghost towns." U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, wants to better the lives of the people that live in this area, one of the poorest in the state. Environmentalist say the bridge will damage this area and its wildlife. Critics all say it is unnecessary and expensive. But the battle continues.

Feature / Multiple Pictures 2nd Place Winner

The rising sun peaks through the legs of athletes waiting for the start of the forth annual YMCA triathlon.

Feature / Multiple Pictures 3rd Place Winner

Christopher Lizama is an eight-year-old boy with a rare neuromuscular disorder called Dystonia. In the past two years he has lost virtually all voluntary control over his legs, arms, and hands. In the fall of 2006, Christopher underwent a deep brain stimulation surgery at Shands Hospital in Gainesville, FL, which greatly improved his muscle control and quality of life. Chistopher's mother, Viviana Lizama helps him with his math homework at home in September. Christopher's dystonia prevents him from being able to hold and write with a pencil, so Viviana writes the answers in that Christopher tells her.

Feature / Multiple Pictures 1st Place Winner

Minnie Calhoun returned to Lone Star in 1972, leaving behind a New Jersey teaching career. Her father helped build the railroad line in the late 1800s; she lives where the train once stopped and remembers when Lone Star Road was “full of people” who delivered cotton, picked up mail, paid a dime to ride to Sumter.

Feature / Multiple Pictures 1st Place Winner

"I predict at some point in the future, there's going to be a bridge across Lake Marion. That's going to happen," says U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn. "It's not that people resent the vision, they resent the fact I have a vision."

Feature / Multiple Pictures 1st Place Winner

John Townsend Cooper hunts duck in the fall, kayaks in the spring in Upper Santee and Sparkleberry swamps. “Any good two to three days in the swamp will renew your soul,” he says.

Feature / Multiple Pictures 1st Place Winner

Once you could buy a slice of hoop cheese, a horse collar or a dress on Lone Star. Now, tin roofs curl on empty buildings; a gas pump says 63 cents a gallon.

Feature / Multiple Pictures 2nd Place Winner

Kelly Kenzik relaxes after crossing the finish line after completing the forth annual YMCA triathlon.

Feature / Multiple Pictures 2nd Place Winner

Cyclist ride south along A1A during the 10 mile portion of the forth annual YMCA triathlon.

Feature / Multiple Pictures 2nd Place Winner

Silhouetted by the rising sun cyclist ride south along A1A during the 10 mile portion of the forth annual YMCA.

Feature / Multiple Pictures 3rd Place Winner

Glen Kerpchar, director of AccessSportAmerica, carries Christopher Lizama in the intracoastal waters off of West Palm Beach during an outing. Christopher loves swimming, as it is one of the only times when he can get his muscles to relax.

Feature / Multiple Pictures 3rd Place Winner

Viviana Lizama laughs with her son, Christopher, during a check-up at Shands Hospital the day before his first surgery.

Feature / Multiple Pictures 3rd Place Winner

Christopher Lizama swims in the hotel pool at the Courtyard Marriott in Gainesville two days before his first surgery at Shands.

Feature / Multiple Pictures 1st Place Winner

Ezekiel Bodrick’s Last Stop Convenience Store opens at 6 p.m. and stays open to 11 p.m., “if the boys come to shoot pool.” The coolers hold beer and eggs; the jukebox in the back plays “The Best of BB King.”

Feature / Multiple Pictures 1st Place Winner

“My first hunt I killed a deer, and that began a long story,” says Jane McPherson, who began hunting in her teens. “The first time I saw a deciduous swamp in full color I thought it was the most gorgeous thing I’d ever see, and it still is.

Feature / Multiple Pictures 1st Place Winner

Cameron Road, Lone Star Road, Dusty Lane, McCords Ferry Road: The traffic is light, just farm trucks, logging trucks and the occasional rusting car travel past cotton fields and pines.

Feature / Multiple Pictures 1st Place Winner

The Southen Environmental Law Center calls the Upper Santee Swamp 'one of the state's last intact bottomland hardwood swamps...treasured by hunters, anglers and nature lovers.'

Feature / Multiple Pictures 1st Place Winner

At 17, Ezekiel Bodrick ran away to North Carolina and a paycheck. “My room, food and water cost $5, I sent Daddy $5, and I kept $5. When I came home he was the most happiest man I ever seen. I had some money, and he had some.”

Feature / Multiple Pictures 1st Place Winner

Dorothy Pugh-Hodge and her brother Arthur, pictured, run Dot's in Rimini. The store has been opened for 15 years. The Hodges were born and raised in Rimini on Sparkleberry Landing Road. She says the bridge would be great for the area and create new jobs.

Feature / Multiple Pictures 3rd Place Winner

Viviana Lizama cradles her son Christopher's head as he sleeps during a pre-surgery appointment at Shands Hospital.

Feature / Multiple Pictures 3rd Place Winner

A thin cord of metal wires are pushed under Christopher Lizama's skin from an incision in his head. These wires will connect the pacemakers in Christopher Lizama's chest with the electrodes implanted in his brain.

Feature / Multiple Pictures 3rd Place Winner

Surgeons connect wiring under Christopher Lizama's skin to a small silver pacemaker that will be implanted in his chest. He will have two of these pacemakers on either side of his chest.

Feature / Multiple Pictures 3rd Place Winner

Almost two months after his first surgery, Christopher Lizama still has scabs over where the electrodes were put in his brain. He is now able to hold a pencil and write, sit up straight, and can even stretch out his legs.

Feature / Multiple Pictures 3rd Place Winner

Viviana Lizama cheers as Despina Hall, a physical therapist with Palm Beach County school system, helps her son, Christopher, stand up for the first time following his surgery.

Feature / Multiple Pictures 3rd Place Winner

Christopher Lizama returns to Ms. Celena Rossello's 2nd grade class at Meadow Park Elementary in West Palm Beach on November 27, 2006, following his surgeries. A few months ago, Christopher was not able to unclench his hands or contol his arm muscles. He now raises his hand high to answer a question in class.

Feature / Multiple Pictures 3rd Place Winner

Christopher Lizama laughs while chasing one of his friends in a game of hide and seek at home in West Palm Beach on May 4, 2007. Although he still has trouble with his left leg turning in, Chris is now able to run and play with the other children in the neighborhood.