Rochester Institute of Technology senior Amanda Berg and Syracuse University grad student Bob Miller have tied for the first place prize in the 2011 Alexia Foundation student competition.

The judges were drawn to Amanda Berg’s proposal on binge drinking problems among female college students, which is challenging gender norms as women drink as much alcohol as their male counterparts. Berg’s portfolio included raw, intimate images of binge drinking episodes and proved that Berg had achieved access to a group of students affected by this issue.

Bob Miller impressed the judges with his work on Kenyan youth reformers, “who are radically improving quality of life for the poor, deconstructing a system of violence and poverty from the ground up.” Judge Bob Sacha noted that that Miller’s work contained a great element of hope rather than just documenting the problems themselves.

Amanda Berg is a senior majoring in Photojournalism at Rochester Institute of Technology. Involved in many activities, she serves as a volunteer photographer for the Children Awaiting Parents Rochester project and as a mentor in addition to being captain of the RIT women’s tennis team.

Bob Miller is a graduate student in Multimedia, Photography and Design at Syracuse University and received a BA from Samford University. He recently produced multimedia features on HIV-positive Kenyans for the non-profit CARE for AIDS and is now a 2011 Carnegie-Knight News21 Fellow.

The judges felt strongly that Miller and Berg both deserved the first place prize and no second place was awarded. They both are entitled to a full tuition scholarship to study photojournalism at Syracuse University in London in the Fall of 2011, plus a $1000 cash grant each to help produce their projects.

Award of Excellence winners are Rebecca Barnett, a senior at Western Kentucky University, Mackenzie Reiss, a senior at Syracuse University, and Brad Vest, a graduate student at Ohio University.

Rebecca Barnett majors in Photojournalism at Western Kentucky University and interned at the Roanoke Times last summer.

Mackenzie Reiss is in her senior year studying Photojournalism at Syracuse University and has received a Crown Award grant toward a book on Irish Travelers living in Dublin.

Brad Vest is working on an MA in Photography at Ohio University. He attended Eddie Adams Workshop XXIII and was awarded a $1500 cash prize from National Geographic. Each Award of Excellence winner receives a $1600 scholarship that pays part of tuition, fees and living expenses to study photojournalism in London in the fall semester at Syracuse University in London and a $500 cash grant to help produce their proposed stories. This year, 68 students applied to the competition.

The competition was judged at Syracuse University on February 19, 2011. The judges were Bob Sacha, multimedia producer and instructor; Eliane Laffont, photo industry veteran and Visa Pour L’Image advisor; and Annie Griffiths, National Geographic photographer and founder of Ripple Effect Images.

About the Alexia Foundation

The Alexia Foundation awards a grant annually to a professional and student photographer to help them create work that contributes to world peace and cross-cultural communication. The Foundation was created by Peter and Aphrodite Tsairis to honor their daughter Alexia, one of 35 students studying abroad under the auspices of Syracuse University who died as a result of a terrorist bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie Scotland. Alexia Tsairis’s abiding beliefs were in the capacity and responsibility of individuals to shape and advance peace in our time. The Alexia Foundation is dedicated to providing students and professionals with the means to do so. For more information, please go to: www.alexiafoundation.org