MANSFIELD — The votes have been tallied, and the winners of the third-annual Downtown Mansfield Holiday Lights Photo Contest are in.
This past December, Cleveland Financial Group, Chuck Hahn sponsored its third-annual photo contest aimed at highlighting the holiday lights currently decorating downtown Mansfield. Photos submitted to the contest were encouraged to focus specifically on the light displays in the downtown business district of Mansfield.
Photographers of all skill levels submitted their photos to an online gallery, where the winners were determined by number of votes. A total of 38 photos were judged by 580 online votes.
This year, first prize was awarded to Amanda Delp, whose photo “Beautiful City Life” earned 132 votes. Second places went to Donna Hill for “Fun Downtown in the Holiday Display” with 97 votes, and Tammy Hicks for “Christmas Lights” finished third with 86 votes.
First prize was awarded $500, second prize won $250, and third prize awarded $100, thanks to the generosity of Cleveland Financial Group, Chuck Hahn.
The goal of the contest is to document the current light displays in downtown Mansfield while also giving inspiration as to where the lights could expand in future years.
Hahn thanked the community for supporting the downtown lights and photo contest, and said he anticipated every year to be bigger and better than the next.
Originally from Virginia, Delp is a local photographer and co-owner of Jay Michelle Photography. She has been operating the business since 2014 and has taken many family photos downtown.
“My boyfriend and I decided to drive downtown with a few of our kids. We all decided to take our cameras because we had heard about the contest,” Delp said. “My boyfriend’s 10-year-old daughter also submitted a photo.
“I was so excited to hear that I had gotten first place,” she said. “I absolutely love downtown Mansfield; there are so many amazing restaurants and local shops to check out. I’m a huge supporter of our local community.”
Hill is known as “the professional smartphone photographer” among her friends and family — no matter where she goes, her phone is always ready to capture the next best shot.
“I took introductory and intermediate photography courses while in college, decades ago,” Hill said. “Working in the darkroom was so much fun…except for those moment while developing film where you hope that you didn’t screw up and ruined a whole roll of film.
“The rise of camera phones was a game changer for me,” she said. “It’s immediate, and after I’m done, I can edit and share the pictures within minutes.”
Hill’s second-place photo was a “happy coincidence” that she initially trashed, but ended up using because she thought it showed Christmas downtown from a different point of view. The photo is of her sister, Valerie Roemer, being silly and having fun with the holiday lights.
“When my neighbor Cindy Soliday texted to let me know I was a winner, I was shocked and excited, mainly because I never win anything,” she said.
Hicks is originally from Shelby, and now lives in Galion. Photography is a huge hobby of hers.
“We were driving back from my daughter’s house and had to stop (downtown) for pictures,” Hicks said of her third-place photo. “The lights were beautiful.”
The small shops, restaurants and history of downtown Mansfield are favorites of Hicks. She discovered her third-place victory through a Facebook message from this reporter.
“I can’t believe my photo won, there were so many nice ones,” she said. “I’m shocked!”
