Ap Honors S-R Photographer Mulvany Wins Cowles Cup For Series On Romanian Orphanage

Photographers for The Spokesman-Review and the Yakima Herald-Republic won the top two sweepstakes awards Thursday in the annual Associated Press state photo contest.

Colin Mulvany of The Spokesman-Review won the Cowles Cup, the award given each year to the entry judged the best of show.

Mulvany’s winning entry, “Into the Heart of Darkness,” was a series of pictures from a Romania orphanage, which the judges called “beautifully executed, yet painful to look at.”

“One of the hallmarks of good photojournalism is that it helps the community define what kind of place it is,” said Scott Sines, Spokesman-Review managing editor for opinion and presentation.

“In this case, what we helped define is whether this is the kind of place that will open up its wallets to help less fortunate people that it doesn’t even know,” Sines said. The stories and photos about the orphans triggered an outpouring of donations from Spokane-area residents.

“The answer is, yes, this is that kind of community.”

Kirk Hirota of the Herald-Republic won the Reid Blackburn Award, which is given annually to the outstanding feature photo in the contest.

Hirota’s award was for a feature picture of a girl watching a chess match, titled “Chess Move.”

The Cowles Cup is named for William Hutchinson Cowles Jr., who was publisher of The Spokesman-Review and Spokane Chronicle for many years before his death in 1971.