Two-time Cronkite student wins 2025 Greg Crowder Memorial

Sydney Lovan has won first prize in the 2025 Greg Crowder Memorial Photojournalism Award, the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication announced.

Lovan graduated with a bachelor’s degree from the Cronkite School in Spring 2025, and she returned this fall to complete a master’s degree.

As an undergraduate, Lovan reported from Rwanda, Mexico, Arizona and the 2024 Paris Olympics.

As a 2025 Carnegie-Knight News21 fellow, Sydney traveled across the country for Upheaval Across America, an investigation of immigration enforcement.

Crowder judges celebrated Lovan’s work as engaging, thoughtfully framed and demonstrating excellent use of space.

Two women sell fruits and vegetables in Kigali’s, Rwanda’s oldest neighborhood, on June 17, 2024. The Nyamirambo Women’s Center spotlights local women businessowners during walking tours of the city. Photo by Sydney Lovan

A local skateboarder practices at a public urban sports park in Paris in Aug. 2024. The 2024 Paris Olympics highlighted the urban sports culture throughout the city. Photo by Sydney Lovan

Logan “Logistix” Edra, member of Team USA breaking, workshops moves during an open practice at the High Performance Center in Paris, France, in July 2024. Breakdancing debuted at the Paris Olympics where Logistix placed tenth overall after losing to France’s B-girl in the quarterfinals. Photo by Sydney Lovan

The Honor Guard carries the cremated remains of Congressman Grijalva out of St. Augustine Cathedral in Tucson, with his family members following behind on Wednesday, March 26, 2025. Photo by Sydney Lovan

María Rosario Lopez gets emotional while sharing the story of her deportation and being separated from her two sons on Feb. 24, 2025, in Nogales, Mexico. Photo by Sydney Lovan

Ricardo Reyes, a member of Common Defense, speaks to the crowd during the demonstration at the Arizona State Capitol in Phoenix on Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025. The demonstration was part of the 50501 movement, a national effort to have 50 protests in 50 states on one day. Photo by Sydney Lovan

Lovan will receive a $1,500 prize for her first-place portfolio, and her images will be exhibited at the Cronkite School.

Cronkite student Spencer Barnes took second place in the Crowder Award contest, and Grace Monos was recognized with third place. Barnes will receive $500, and Monos will receive $250.

A ceremony honoring their work Nov. 17, at 5 p.m., in the Cronkite School’s First Amendment Forum.

About the Crowder Award

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.