Campus photographer earns first, second place awards at UPAA symposium

If you don’t know him by name, you’ve seen his face, peeking out from behind the camera lens. August Jennewein, the University of Missouri–St. Louis campus photographer, has been capturing UMSL moments for 9 years. And that work continues to pay off.

Jennewein recently won two awards from the University Photographers’ Association of America during an annual symposium at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

He walked away with first place in specialty books for his work on “First, A Dream,” UMSL’s Jubilee book, and second place in printed advertisements for the “I Chose UMSL” campaign billboards.

“Winning one of the awards was an exciting moment that turned even more special when, as I returned to my seat after accepting my award, I started to hear ‘Go back, go back,’” Jennewein recalls of the awards banquet. “Confused, I turned around toward the front of the hall, and I noticed on the big screen that we had won another award. I felt honored to receive the awards for UMSL, which were voted on by my peers, none of whom knew me or much about our campus but were impressed by our work. It’s a great honor.”

The UPAA was founded in 1961 by a small group of university photographers in the New England area. Since then, membership has grown to include photographers from across the United States, Canada, Australia and Israel.

The awards are presented for the best use of photography in university or college publications per category.

Jennewein said since he had never entered or participated in a conference such as this, he wasn’t sure what to expect but surely didn’t expect to win.

“Normally I’m the one behind the camera, roaming the hall, looking for those special moments of celebration to photograph,” he said. “But on the last night of the UPAA Symposium, at the award’s banquet, I was seated along with all my fellow photographers. We were the ones being feted and photographed. It was a great feeling.”