The Judges

P.O.Y – Judges

Brian Plonka Freelance photojournalist

Plonka, 43, is freelance photographer based in the Inland Northwest. Plonka worked at numerous newspapers across the country until being recently laid-off from the Spokesman-Review after 10 years due to staff downsizing. Plonka started his photojournalism career at age 15 in New Castle, PA. Plonka was named POYi Newspaper Photographer of the Year during the 59th annual competition. He has been a 10-time Photographer of the Year in various state and regional competitions and accumulating more than 20 individual awards in previous POY and POYi contests. Plonka has lectured and been a faculty member in numerous contests and workshops. Plonka’s wife Kathy is a photographer for the Spokesman-Review. They have a 10 year-old son, Jordan, and live along the shore of Hauser Lake in North Idaho.

Kathy Kieliszewski Detroit Free Press

Kieliszewski is a three time National Emmy Award winning multimedia storyteller and photojournalist. After ten years as a newspaper photographer, she made the transition to picture editing when she joined the Detroit Free Press in 2003. She is currently the Deputy Director of Photo and Video at the Free Press where she oversees video and multimedia. She is graduate of Michigan State University and has been honored with numberous picture editing awards including Michigan Picture Editor of the Year. She lives in Grosse Pointe Park, MI with her husband, two boys and a dog named Sherman.

Carlos Javier Ortiz Freelancer

Ortiz was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico and raised in Chicago, Illinois. As a teenager, his love of photography led him to work at a traveling carnival to save money for photography equipment and college tuition. Later, Carlos Javier attended Columbia College in Chicago, where he studied photojournalism. Following college, Carlos Javier was a staff photographer for Chicago In The Year 2000 (CITY 2000), a yearlong project documenting the city and its inhabitants. He worked for several years as a photojournalist for newspapers in Philadelphia and New Jersey.  Carlos Javier is currently working on a cross-cultural youth violence project, which documents adolescents in Chicago and Guatemala.  The project documents the lives of youth victims of violence as well as the teenage perpetrators of these crimes. Carlos Javier’s work is sponsored by the Blue Earth Alliance, a non-profit organization that supports documentary photography projects of endangered cultures, threatened environments, or current topics of social concern. Carlos Javier was a finalist for the W. Eugene Smith Grant in Humanistic Photography for his project, Too Young To Die in 2008. Carlos Javier is represented by Rapport. His work has appeared in Newsweek, Washington Post, The New York Times, The Times of London, The Guardian, Stern Magazine, Internazionale Magazine, and other publications.

C.P.O.Y. – Judges

Nathan Berndt – St. Paul Pioneer Press | TwinCities.com

Nathan Berndt, 30, currently works as a multimedia producer at the St. Paul Pioneer Press | TwinCities.com. Before joining the world of online, Berndt worked as a photo editor for two years and a photojournalist for 2 years at the Pioneer Press.

Berndt has a B.S. in geology from the University of Minnesota and lives in St. Paul with his wife Nancy and two greyhounds (Cherokee and Spirit).

Jeff Wheeler – Minneapolis Star Tribune

Jeff Wheeler has been a staff photographer at the Star Tribune for 22 years. A St. Paul native, he worked as a photographer and editor at the Hartford Courant before returning to Minnesota. He won the William Randolph Hearst Photojournalism competition while attending the University of Minnesota and working for the Minnesota Daily. While at the Star Tribune he has covered a broad range of assignments, including the first Gulf War, the Olympic Games, and nearly every major sporting event held in the U.S., as well as several national political conventions.

Thomas Whisenand – Freelance

Thomas Whisenand, 26, is a freelance photographer based in Minneapolis. While attending the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities, Thomas was named Minnesota College Photographer of the Year three times, and also recognized in the National College Photographer of the Year competition on two separate occasions. Thomas currently shoots shoots a mix of editorial and commercial assignments for both local and national clients.