A photo taken by Amber Burg, a senior photography major at Morningside College, received a first-place award in the South Dakota Newspaper Association (SDNA) Better Newspaper Contest.

A photo taken by Amber Burg, a senior photography major at Morningside College, received a first-place award in the South Dakota Newspaper Association (SDNA) Better Newspaper Contest.

Burg’s photo, which was published in the Dakota Dunes/North Sioux City (South Dakota) Times, took first place in the best feature photo category for weekly newspapers with a circulation of less than 1,150. SDNA announced the awards at its recent annual convention in Mitchell, S.D. Journalists at newspapers in Oregon and New Mexico judged the entries.

Burg’s winning photo shows a young girl feeding an ice cream cone to a goat at a petting zoo last October.

A native of Murray, Neb., Burg completed an internship at the Dakota Dunes/North Sioux City Times and continued to work as a freelance writer and photographer for the newspaper while she attended Morningside College.

Burg will graduate summa cum laude (with highest honor) from Morningside on May 14 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in photography. She is a 2012 graduate of Conestoga High School in Murray, Neb.

(Photo courtesy Dakota Dunes/North Sioux City Times)