A senior mass communications and design major student placed first at the Keystone Media Awards for a photo story.

Dominic Augustine was honored for his photography work on “The Drowsy Chaperone” presented by the Misericordia Players by the Keystone Awards, an annual journalism competition for college newspapers in Pennsylvania.

“I was really shocked that I won,” Augustine said. “I went into this thinking that I wasn’t going to get an award. I haven’t before and I honestly just wanted to do this for fun.”

After receiving news of the award over spring break, Augustine said, besides the shock, he felt grateful to have his work recognized in this way.

“It not only validates everything I’ve been working so hard to do as a photographer and not only polish my skills more, but it also means I’m one step closer to achieving more of the goals that I have set for myself later in life with photography being one of my main passions,” he said.

Augustine has been doing photography unprofessionally for about four years and professionally for two and a half years with his own photography business.

After buying the rights to his name and starting a business, he began taking wedding photos. Since then, he has been given the opportunity to take photos for other local photographers, proms, graduations and other formal events to help build his business and show off his talents.

Although photography is Augustine’s main passion, he is also passionate about other things, such as coffee. He likes to spend his free days visiting different coffee shops and said, in a way, it correlates to photography.

“I feel like a lot of cool niche photographers that are in the same genre of photos that I do also go to these cool indie coffee shops and they share a lot of their work,” he said.

Augustine expressed gratitude to his friends, family and, most importantly, The Highlander staff for helping make this award possible. He especially thanked Dr. Melissa Sgroi, chair of the communications department, for always supporting him throughout his photography career.

“If it weren’t for the amazing team of students, faculty and friends that I have, I don’t think I would have ever got to this point in my life,” he said. “[Dr. Sgroi] drove me to want to push myself above the limits and create something that was memorable amongst a larger audience.”

Augustine will graduate in May and plans to continue his photography career, by either taking over his friend’s studio or taking advantage of an internship opportunity in New York City for the summer.