Newsday’s Alejandra Villa was awarded Second Place in the Pictures of the Year International for Feature Multimedia Story for A Little Girl’s Fight to Live. The story is of 5 year-old Marisa Carney, one of only 75 children worldwide to be diagnosed with a childhood disease (Rapid-onset Obesity with Hypothalamic Dysfunction, Hypoventilation and Autonomic Dysregulation, ROHHAD for short), that triggers uncontrollable obesity and extreme sleep apnea.
NYPPA sponsor, Jeff Rhode, formerly of the Star-Ledger, was given the Award of Excellence for his work on A Thousand More that chronicles one family’s determination to give their son, who is suffering from Spinal Muscular Atrophe, a whole and vital life. Earlier in the year this video won first place at the national contest Fotoweek DC for multimedia.
Congratulations to both Villa and Rhode for their recognition.