CM Life Photo Editor Jake May wins Hearst Award

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Jake May has reached the top of college journalism.

The Grand Haven junior placed second in the news and sports photojournalism category of the Hearst Award.

This award competition is open to undergraduate journalism students attending an accredited university. There are championship finals to each of the four divisions, and the winners receive scholarships with matching grants for their schools.

May was chosen by Kent Miller, an assistant professor of journalism, as one of the two students who CMU entered.

Miller has been working with May for the past two years. As his advisor, Miller has seen the range in May’s work and admires his eye for capturing great moments.

“Beyond being an amazing photographer, Jake is really personable,” Miller said. “He makes people feel comfortable and it’s easy for them to open up to him. When he’s in the room, you know it.”

May has also been a big help in Miller’s classes. He comes in to help beginning students and makes himself available to anybody who wants to learn the stuff. Miller said May has always been a leader among his peers, pushing them to get the best out of themselves.

For the competition, May submitted two news images and two sport images. He gave a large amount of credit to the Jackson Citizen Patriot, a Jackson newspaper, where he interned last summer. Three of the four images were made while working there.

One image was at a championship baseball game in Homer, where both teams were disqualified for starting a brawl. Another was taken at the Memorial Day parade. It is of a soldier with his hands on his son’s shoulders looking up into the rainy sky.

May emphasized the importance of being at the right place at the right time.

“It’s about being patient and enduring the weather to look for those kinds of moments,” May said. “You have to look for something to tell the story and find the human interest within it.”

May’s passion for photography developed in college. He said owes a lot of it to the “Rat Pack,” a group of his three closest journalism friends. May said they are all in it together and push each other to be the best.

May is the photo editor at CM Life. Miller said the visual aspect and in-depth stories of the paper have improved since his arrival.

Director of Student Publications Neil Hopp finds May a very ingenious photographer and deserving of this award.

“He has a great imagination and is always thinking of how to shoot differently,” Hopp said. “He is very organized and put together a portfolio of a great variety of moments.”

May intends to be a photojournalist until the day he dies.

“My goal is to explore human nature, emotion, moments,” he said, “and hopefully make people realize what we have for such a fleeting moment in life.”