Times reporters, photographers win awards

Staffers of the Watertown Daily Times have won several journalism awards this year.

A photo titled "Air Fare" by former photographer Dustin Safranek was recently named the nation's top feature photo in the 25,000 to 99,999 circulation category by Editor & Publisher magazine. The photo had previously been judged best in show for all New York newspapers by the Associated Press.

The photo is of a red-tailed hawk making off with a squirrel freshly caught in the snow near the Jefferson Community College campus in January.

Current staffers honored this year by the Associated Press were Jude Seymour for his story "IHC grad an action-film innovator," about Mark Neveldine; Nancy Madsen for her work on a multimedia slide show and story "Cormorant control squads go to work"; and photographers Jason Hunter and Justin Sorenson for their personality and feature photos.