Essex, Missouri - Four Richland R-1 School students were recognized last week with awards on the national level for their skill in photography.

Eighth grader Emily Blunt, junior Skie Pinkley, sophomore Katie Pinkley, and junior Parker Miller received photography awards.

Emily Blunt and Skie Pinkley both won national photography awards from Jostens, the high school yearbook publisher for Richland R-1 School.

Blunt’s photo “Fire Flowers” placed third in the nation in the Middle School/Junior High division.

Skie Pinkley’s photo, “One Last Selfie” won second place in the Graduation category of Josten’s national photo contest.

There were more than 5,000 photos submitted for the Jostens Photography Contest and Richland came away with two of the very coveted forty-six national awards.

Katie Pinkley and Parker Miller both received gold keys for placing in the Quill and Scroll International Honorary Society for High School Journalists’ 2015 International Writing and Photo Contest.

Miller won the over-all Sweepstakes in the Sports Photography division - meaning Miller’s sports photo entitled, “Re-Reb-Rebound” was voted as the number one photo in the entire contest with both U.S. and international entries.

Katie Pinkley won the National Award for Sports Photography for the state of Missouri. Her photo entitled “Grayson for Two,” was selected as the best sports in the state of Missouri.

No other school in Missouri placed in the Sports Photography Division of the Quill and Scroll contest, meaning Miller and Pinkley swept the state and the national-international voting.

Blunt and Skie Pinkley will receive camera gear as their prizes and their photos will be published in the upcoming 2015 Jostens Lookbook along with being on display last week at the Journalism Education Associations National Convention in Denver.



With their awards, Katie Pinkley and Parker Miller both receive the opportunity in their senior year to apply for for the Quill and Scroll scholarship that can be up to $1,500 for the college of their choice. This is the second win of the year for Miller, as in the fall he won first place in Student Life Photography at J-Day hosted at Southeast Missouri State University in September.

“I’m very proud of all of four of these students,” said Kyle Carter, yearbook advisor for Richland. “We have a very special yearbook staff and all of them enjoy honing their skills and competing on the biggest stages. I have been blessed to have great support from both my school board and my administration and well as some wonderful students to work with.”

Photo by Parker Miller / Richland School. - This photo entitled “Re-Reb-Rebound” was taken by Richland R-1 School junior Parker Miller shows Rebel senior Skyler Grayson, left, going up for a rebound against the Advance Hornets during their Stoddard County basketball game on January 16, 2015, in Advance, Missouri. The photo was taken with a mounted backboard camera that Miller remotely fired during the game using a wireless Pocket Wizard. He used a Canon 1Dx camera with a 16-35mm lens and it was shot at: 1/400 sec; f/5.6/ ISO 4000. Miller won the Sweepstakes Award, which is the grand prize award, for the Quill and Scroll International Honorary Society for High School Journalists’ 2015 International Writing and Photo Contest in the Sports Photography division for this award.

Photo by Katie Pinkley / Richland School - This photo entitled “Grayson for Two” was taken by sophomore Katie Pinkley and depicts Rebel senior Marcus Grayson putting up a shot over Zalma’s Christopher Lombeida during the second half of their game on January 23, 2015 at Richland R-1 School. The game was Richland’s Homecoming game, before which Katie Pinkley won the crown of Homecoming Queen. After taking the first half to greet all the fans, Pinkley in her red cocktail dress, high heels and tiara, picked up her camera and shot the second of the game - during which she captured this photo of Grayson. She used a Canon 1Dx camera with a 70-200mm lens and it was shot at 1/400 sec; f/3.2; ISO 3200. Pinkley won the National Award for the state of Missouri in the Sports Photography division - which is the title for the top photo in each division for each state for the Quill and Scroll International Honorary Society for High School Journalists’ 2015 International Writing and Photo Contest.

Photo by Skie Pinkley / Richland School - This photo entitled “The Last Selfie” was taken by Richland R-1, then sophomore, now junior Skie Pinkley and it depicts 2014 Richland graduates Ashley Lane, left, McKenzie Hillis and MacKenzie Williams taking a selfie in front of the school before their graduation on May 16, 2014 outside Essex, Missouri. The three seniors attended Richland R-1 School together from Kindergarten through their senior year. Pinkley used a Canon Rebel T3i for the photo with a 17-40mm lens and shot it at 1/64 sec; f/5.6; ISO 100. Pinkley received second place in the nation for this photo in the Jostens 2015 Photo Contest. This photo, along with her name, her advisor’s name and the school’s name will be included in the 2015 Jostens Lookbook that will be out later this year. Also, this photo was displayed last week at the National Journalism Education Association Conference in Denver, Colorado.

Photo by Emily Blunt / Richland School - This photo entitled “Fire Flower” was taken by Richland R-1 School eighth grader Emily Blunt and it depicts a craftsman using a torch to shape metal in the form of a tree leaf on October 28, 2014. While taking a photography class, Blunt’s assignment was to take an interesting photo of welders working with their craft. Blunt took this photo of the working end of a torch that is held by a lady in her 80s that makes these leaves as gifts for her friends and family. The variation of colors in the photo are created by the heating of the electrons to a higher quantum level, and the atoms emit characteristic colors (photons with energies corresponding to the visible spectrum) as they return to lower energy levels. Blunt used a Canon 70D with a 24-105mm lens and shot it at 1/16 sec; f/14; ISO 800. Blunt received third place in the nation in the Middle School/Junior High category of the Jostens 2015 Photo Contest. This photo, along with her name, her advisor’s name and the school’s name will be included in the 2015 Jostens Lookbook that will be out later this year. Also, this photo was displayed last week at the National Journalism Education Association Conference in Denver, Colorado.