AMER Feature of the Year
Al Bello
“The decision was unanimous for our Feature of the Year winner — from crazy costumes and on-the-field acrobatics to singing, stilts, and a fire show — this story has it all. We loved the photographer’s use of unique perspectives in highlighting this far from average baseball team, and the sheer joy they captured that had us cheering right along.”
“The Savannah Bananas”
The Savannah Bananas are an independent professional baseball team based out of Historic Grayson Stadium in Savannah, Georgia. The team plays their own brand of baseball called “Banana Ball” which features modified rules to increase the fun and decrease game times. They play a consistently sold-out calendar of games both at home and part of their world tour. The Savannah Bananas were part of the Coastal Plain League, a summer collegiate league, for seven seasons. In 2022, the Bananas announced that they were leaving the Coastal Plain League to play Banana Ball year-round.
2nd Place
Brandon Bell
“Faces of The Rio Grande”
A portrait series of various people, cultures, and lifestyles that depend on the Rio Grande River for life and livelihood. Agriculture and livelihood along the Rio Grande is undergoing severe drought conditions as record-high dry spells continue straining the region. An increasingly arid climate and a growing population along the Southern border has signified and raised concerns on the severity, regularity and duration of naturally occurring droughts in the region.
3rd Place
Chip Somodevilla
“Parade of Politics”
The summer before a presidential election year, it is a tradition that all the candidates for president of the United States visit the Iowa State Fair. It is an opportunity for the politicians seeking the “highest office in the land” to go to Iowa because the state hosts the first primary season election. The candidates often cook pork and eat fair food, shake hands with the local people, answer questions from voters and — at least pretend — to have a good time. In 2023, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence, millionaire Vivek Ramaswamy and former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley all attended the fair. Former President Donald Trump also went to the fair but he didn’t cook, avoided shaking hands and flew in his private jet over the fairgrounds.
