Undergraduate sports journalism student Reece Andrews won first prize in the 2024 Greg Crowder Memorial Photojournalism Award, with a portfolio that included a mix of sports and news photos defined by action and emotion.
In one photo taken at an Arizona Coyotes (now Utah Hockey Club) game, Andrews captures the team celebrating after a goal by right wing forward Josh Doan.
“That one was more about emotion than the actual sport of it,” Andrews said. “That was Josh Doan’s first NHL goal, and his dad was a legendary Coyotes player Shane Doan.”
Other photos ranged from a fierce wrestling match to a service member’s salute beside Air Force One.
The Crowder Award judges praised the work that earned Andrews first place.
“Clean selective focus, peak action, eye for detail and excellent technical qualities,” said Crowder judge Dave Seibert.
Andrews started his visual storytelling career in high school when he started filming his brother’s wrestling meets.
“After a meet or two, I started taking photos and haven’t looked back,” Andrews said.
He soon fell in love with photojournalism at the Cronkite School, and it became his primary focus as an undergraduate student.
Andrews produced sports and news coverage from Cronkite News in Phoenix and Los Angeles, as well as for The State Press and the Walter Cronkite Sports Network. One of his winning photos came from a Cronkite News photo essay he produced about basketball in the Whiteriver Community.
Andrews said Visiting Professor Emmanuel Lozano played a key role in his development as a photojournalist. Lozano was a professor of Andrews’ and a mentor at Cronkite News – a capstone experience he repeated several times as he continued to learn from Lozano.
“I had done three semesters at Cronkite News and he was like, ‘You’re back again?’” Andrews remembered. “I’m like, ‘Yeah, you helped me a lot.’”
Recent Cronkite graduate Sam Ballesteros took second place in the Crowder contest, and alum Kayla Jackson came in third.
Ballesteros, who graduated with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and mass communication in May 2024, worked as a student at Arizona PBS and The Arizona Republic. As a photographer for Cronkite News, she covered a range of events, from a visit from President Biden to the M3F music festival (shown below). She now works as a social media content creator for JL Patisserie, a bakery in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Jackson, who also earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and mass communication in May 2024, started photography her senior year at ASU without the intention of it becoming a career. Her aspirations changed when she became a photographer for Cronkite News, where she took some of her favorite photos to this day. Her Crowder portfolio included photos of political protests, asylum seekers in Mexico and a starry evening in Flagstaff. She’s now living in Houston working as a photographer.
Andrews will receive a $1,500 prize for his first-place portfolio, and Ballesteros will take home $500 for second place.
The Greg Crowder Memorial Photojournalism Award was created in 2010 to honor Cronkite alumnus and photojournalist Greg Crowder. Crowder, a 1980 graduate and longtime photojournalist at The Riverside Press-Enterprise in California, passed away in 2005.
While a student at ASU, he worked for The State Press, ASU’s independent student newspaper, and interned at The Arizona Republic.
His parents, Troy and Betsy Crowder of Chandler, Arizona, established the Greg Crowder Memorial Photojournalism Award and an endowment at the Cronkite School to honor the life and spirit of their late son.