Some say awards don't matter. True, they can be subjective at times and the opinion of just one judge or a small panel. I believe winning multiple awards from various sources further validates the quality of the work.

I won't post my college awards, with the exception of one, since it would be too time consuming and I'm not sure if I can find them all to verify the actual award prior to posting it here.

National Awards

First place in the National Newspaper Association Better Newspaper Contest, Best Lifestyles and Living Coverage category, 1999 (This award was based on two feature pages I shot, wrote, designed and built.)
First place in the Associated Collegiate Press national News Photo of the Year contest, 1993
Third place in the National Newspaper Association Better Newspaper Contest, Best Photo Package category, 1998
Third place in the Inland Press Association 2001 News Picture Contest, sports category, 2001

State and Regional Awards

First place in the Missouri Press Association Better Newspaper Contest, news category, 2003, plus second place -- photo story category
Two first-place awards for best photos submitted to the Associated Press, Kansas City Bureau, 2003, and one first-place award from the Arkansas Bureau, 1996
Second place in the Missouri Press Association Better Newspaper Contest, feature category, 2004
First place in the National Press Photographer's Association regional (Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma) clip contest sports category, May 2003; plus third place in spot news, May 2003;
third place in spot news, April 2003; and second place in feature category, May 1997
First, second, and honorable mention awards in the Missouri Press Association Better Newspaper Contest, feature photography category, 1998, plus second place in spot news
Third place in the Missouri Press Association Better Newspaper Contest, photo illustration category, 2005
Honorable Mention in the Missouri Press Association Better Newspaper Contest, sports category, 2006
Honorable Mention in the Missouri Press Association Better Newspaper Contest, information graphic category, 1999
I also earned the Photo of the Year award from my newspaper's parent company, Community Newspaper Holdings Inc. (CNHI) in 2003.

Awards received since this blog was posted:
I've earned a second-place award from the Associated Press for best photo submission for April 2007.
I just found out today (July 16, 2007) that I earned a first-place award from the Missouri Press Association's Better Newspaper Contest in the sports photography category, 2006. I also earned a second-place award in the same contest's feature photography category, 2006.
I found out on Jan. 3, 2008, that I earned the first-place "Photo of the Month Award" from The Associated Press for a fire photo I shot in the month of December 2007.
I found out June 13, 2008, that I won third place for sports photography in the Associated Press Managing Editors (APME) contest in Missouri for 2007.

That makes a total of 27 photo awards.
Hasta la vista!