Newhouse students and alumni win in CPoY competition

Recently, the prestigious College Photographer of the Year (CPoY) competition honored photography senior Xinning Li and alumna Elizabeth Billman for their extraordinary multimedia projects.

Li earned the Gold honor in the Multimedia: Documentary Short category for “Happy Birthday Miss X,” while Billman garnered an Award of Excellence distinction in the Multimedia: Individual Story or Essay category for “Seven Little Birds.”

Surya Vaidy and Gavin Liddell ’21, G ’22 were honored as Finalists in the Still Photography category.

Senior Vaidy was honored for Interpretive Eye for his contemplative portrait, and alumnus Liddell was honored for Sports Features for his photo of a Syracuse University club ice hockey player.

The CPoY competition was founded by Cliff and Vi Edom in 1945 and is administered by the University of Missouri, with support from co-sponsor Nikon Inc. Over 500 students from 120 universities enter the contest each year, making this an impressive achievement for the winners.

Congratulations to all!

Update: In January 2023, Xinning Li’s short film “Happy Birthday, Miss X” placed sixth nationally in the Hearst Journalism Awards’ Multimedia Narrative Storytelling contest.

Founded in 1960, the Hearst Journalism Awards Program provides support and assistance to journalism education at the collegiate level. The program, which added multimedia to the competition in 2010, awards scholarships to college students for excellent performance in journalism.