Jessica Phelps, a photojournalist with the Newark Advocate, has been recognized for her work documenting life in Licking County, Ohio. In 2019, she was named Newspaper Photographer of the Year by the Missouri School of Journalism for her portfolio of daily life images, a distinction she has now earned six consecutive times in the minor market category according to the Ohio News Photographers Association.
Phelps’ winning portfolio included photographs of farm life in Utica, firefighters responding to a blaze in Croton, high school football in Licking Valley, and families facing housing challenges in Newark. She too received the top prize for Daily Life Picture Story for her coverage of a newly immigrated family adjusting to life in Columbus. The Ohio News Photographers Association announced Phelps’ win, alongside Meg Vogel of the Cincinnati Enquirer, who was named Ohio News Photographer of the Year in the large market division.
The Newark Advocate, where Phelps works, also received a Staff of the Year award for small market newspapers. Phelps’ work has spanned a range of subjects, including boxing, cancer, aging, and autism, as evidenced by her project catalog on Visura.co. Her projects include “A Labor of Love,” “Just For Today,” “For the Love of the Game,” and “Facing Cancer Head On,” all shared in November 2016. Earlier projects, dating back to 2014, include “A World Apart” and “Rising Up From the Bottoms.”
Phelps’ journey into photography began at age six with a rosebud photograph taken with her mother’s camera. While the initial image didn’t capture her intended subject, it sparked a lifelong passion. Her work with the Newark Advocate, a newspaper with a circulation of 13,000, has consistently earned accolades, including a Best of Show award from Pictures of the Year International for her feature story, “A Farm Story,” featuring Arthur and Bryce Hollenback and their life on a farm.
The Ohio News Photographers Association contest saw submissions from 51 visual journalists across the state, totaling over 750 entries. Gaelen Morse of Ohio University was named Chuck Scott Student Photographer of the Year, and Madeleine Hordinski, also of Ohio University, received the Larry Fullerton Photojournalism Scholarship.
