First place: Carmen Cerra, Ames Tribune

About this entry: Carmen Cerra proves that he is not only a master of design with a keen eye for bold layouts and topography, but also proves himself as a wonderful illustrator.

An excellent collection of work that all reveals a great sense of typography, a clean approach to pages and a feel for bold design. The bugs page had the potential to go wrong easily. But through organization, smart placement and good attention to detail, he made it the best page in this category for the year. Also loved his illustration work on his player profile.

Second place: Emely Delsanto, Taunton Daily Gazette

About this entry: Emely Delsanto’s creative and colorful section designs draw readers in with brilliant layouts and informed imagery.

A fun collection of designs that do a great job of engaging readers. I can envision readers spending much more time with Emely’s pages than they ever intended when they picked up the paper. And that’s a very good thing.

Third place: Ankur Patankar of Center for News & Design, designing for Pocono Record

About this entry: Ankur Patankar has a great eye for how to use bright and bold imagery.

A very good illustrative technique, executed well.