Peggy Yaeger and Jed Newcom win top honors in SCC Photography Club’s Spring Contest

Published on May 7, 2024

The picture is very clear—Peggy Yaeger and Jed Newcom are excellent photographers. For the second consecutive year, the two captured top honors in Somerset Community College’s Fruit of the Lens photography club’s spring contest.

Yaeger, Newcom and other contest winners were recognized during the annual Earth Day Celebration held April 14 on the Somerset Campus. The theme of the Nash Black Photography Awards contest was “Spring Has Spring.”

“We’ve had a repeat grand prize winner before,” said faculty club advisor Cindy Burton, “but never a grand prize winner and a first runner-up.”

(Club member Denny Longsworth captured back-to-back top honors and two $100 awards a few years ago. The Wayne County resident now serves as one of the contest judges and helped select this year’s winners.)

“Hopefully Peggy and Jed will join us in the judging photos next year,” Burton said.

Yaeger’s winning photo, titled “Mayapple,” was one of 71 entries submitted to the contest. Now $100 richer, the Corbin resident said, “Photography for me is a creative way to express my love for our awesome world and share it with others. I love taking pictures of just about anything, but wildflowers are my favorite so this photo of a mayapple in bloom embodies that spirit.”

Newcom, a 14-year-old Russell County resident, captured his second $50 second place award for his photo of a ladybug on a dandelion. At the award ceremony, Newcom said, “Photography is an amazing and beautiful thing. A great coping mechanism.”

Third-place honors and $25 were awarded to Dr. Renfro Zachariah of Somerset for his image titled, “Early Bloom at Grandma’s.” On a Facebook post, Zachariah said, “Woo! So excited to earn third place!”

SCC student Layla Hensley’s photo of a daisy with dew captured fourth place and $15. She said, “I was thrilled to participate and happy to have won fourth place.”

The judges selected four other photos for honorable mention. Those receiving certificates in that category were SCC student Makaley Foster of Manchester; Tricia Neal of Somerset; Sara Shoupe of Williamsburg; and Raenna Bates of Monticello.

Besides Burton and Longsworth, other judges for the Nash Black Photography Awards were former SCC instructors Alyce Grover and Stuart Simpson.

Irene Black also served as a judge for the contest that is named for her and her late husband, Ford Nashett. The Russell County couple wrote under the pen name “Nash Black” and were founding members of the club.

The mission of Fruit of the Lens is to provide a setting where SCC students, staff and faculty can come together with the community to share digital images and discuss photography.

The club was established by SCC’s Visual Communication: Multimedia program and has been overseeing a spring photo contest since 2006. To become a member of the club, simply send a request to the SCC faculty advisor and Vis Com: Multimedia Program Coordinator Cindy Burton at cindy.burton@kctcs.edu.