Each year, the Society of Professional Journalists Detroit chapter recognizes hundreds of journalists and photographers across Michigan for their work. At the latest ceremony on May 18, three Detroit high school students had the distinction of winning awards alongside professionals.

Three Coaching Detroit Forward Photography Camp students were among over 250 SPJ Detroit Excellence in Journalism awardees. The students attended CDF’s 2024 Photography Camps, and won awards in the portrait and feature photography categories for their images published in Perspectives Magazine 2024.

Over the past five years, SPJ Detroit has bestowed 49 awards to high school students who attended summer programs through The Detroit Writing Room and its nonprofit arm Coaching Detroit Forward. The signature photography and journalism camps as well as college prep workshops are free for Detroit students thanks to donors, sponsors and grant partners. Over 200 students have participated as of 2024.

Cass Tech High School alum Kendall DeLaine, now a Michigan State University sophomore majoring in nursing, took first place in the feature photography category for her photo “Motor City Night Lights” captured from a highway overpass at night.

“I have seen photos where the shutter speed was really low with cars passing by,” DeLaine says. “I’ve always wanted to take photos like that, so that was my main inspiration.”

DeLaine attended CDF’s Beginner and Advanced Photography Camps and says the programs built her skills and confidence behind the camera.

“In the summer of ‘23, I attended the Beginner Photography Camp, and that’s where I learned the basic photography skills and the hardware of it,” DeLaine says. “In 2024, I was in the Advanced Photography Camp, and that’s when we learned about color grading, color correction and how to light a room.”

Martin Luther King Jr. Senior High School sophomore Damon Prius Jr. won second place for his feature photography photo, “Cycling By.” Prius attended the 2024 Beginner and Advanced Photography Camps and spoke of the tools he learned.

“I would say exposure mostly, like IOS, shutter speed, camera control and safety too when you’re working with cameras,” Prius says. “I feel like (the camps) opened me up to new experiences and let me meet new and creative people that are my peers, and I didn’t know.”

Alexia Stephenson, a Cass Tech High School graduate attending Morgan State University as a political science major this fall, also attended both 2024 photography camps. She won third place for her portrait photography piece “Brotherly Love” and an honorable mention for her feature photography piece “Birthday Bash.”

Stephenson, who is attending the 2025 Journalism Camp, was honored to be recognized in two separate categories.

“It’s very liberating to see my work pay off. I started photography when I was in sophomore year, and no way did I think I’d be here right now,” Stephenson says. “So I'm just really, really, grateful.”

Over the last year, The Detroit Writing Room hired Stephenson to photograph a few author events. She says the DWR and CDF have had a major impact on her trajectory and photography skills.

“Coming into the Beginner Photography Camp, I did already know about photography, but The Detroit Writing Room allowed me to shoot with purpose,” Stephenson says. “Before I was shooting just because I liked it. Because of the DWR, I shoot with purpose and hope that it will get me somewhere in life, and it has!”

Stephenson plans to continue pursuing journalism and photography in college and launched her own photography business to keep her passion alive.

The SPJ Detroit Awards allowed students to celebrate their accomplishments, but also gave parents an opportunity to appreciate the work of their children too.

The students all had parents in attendance to cheer them on while they accepted their awards. DeLaine’s mother, Dedra DeLaine, said the summer camps exposed her daughter to photography “outside of her cellphone camera” as well as “different people and places that she would have never experienced.” 

DeLaine adds the camps gave her daughter a new passion, but they also offered her personal growth.

“It gave her confidence, even though she already has it, but it helped give her even more confidence and more independence,” DeLaine says. “I just try to teach her that she can do what she wants to do, and she can be who she wants to be.”

Coaching Detroit Forward executive director Stephanie Steinberg says the awards are a testament to the coaches’ teaching skills and the mentorship provided by head photography Coach Sacred Overstreet-Amos. 

“Sacred can take a student who’s never held a professional camera, and turn him or her into an award-winning photographer in three weeks,” Steinberg says. “It’s truly remarkable to watch.” 

The 2024 summer programs were possible thanks to the Fisher Foundation and venue partners like Bamboo Detroit and Class Act Detroit. Playground Detroit also hosted the 2024 Perspectives Launch Party and Photography Exhibition, where students had their work on display and auctioned.

CDF is gearing up for its Summer 2025 Journalism and Photography Camps. If this year is any indication, there will certainly be more awards in store for students.

Victoria Winfield is a junior at Michigan State University majoring in broadcast journalism. She is a 2025 communications and program intern for The Detroit Writing Room and Coaching Detroit Forward.

SPJ Detroit 2024 Winners

Feature Photography:

Portrait Photography: