Damon Winter, Michael Holahan, Picked As BOP's Photojournalists Of The Year
By Donald Winslow
© 2011 News Photographer magazine
DURHAM, NC (June 9, 2011) – Damon Winter of The New York Times was selected today as the National Press Photographers Association's Best Of Photojournalism 2011 Photojournalist of the Year (Larger Markets), and Michael Holahan of the Augusta Chronicle was picked as the Photojournalist of the Year (Smaller Markets).
In the Photojournalist of the Year (Larger Markets) category, second place was Preston Gannaway of The Virginian-Pilot and third place was Adrees Latif of Reuters.
In the Photojournalist of the Year (Smaller Markets) category, second place was David Manning of the Athens Banner-Herald, and third place was Gerry Melendez of The State.
Winter's photographs of Haiti after the earthquake are intimate, personal, and yet artistic and compassionate. "For Haiti, it would have been a tremendous injustice to shoot that story any other way," Winter said today when he learned the news of the judges' selection. "If the photographs failed to convey the level of suffering that the people went through, I would have failed. It was a tough story to cover. Sometimes it meant avoiding the literal, disturbing images to tell the story in a more subtle way. It was an incredible thing to witness, what the people went through during the quake and in the months that followed."
His portfolio also included work from Afghanistan. "We returned home with the troops we deployed with after following them through their tour, through a full cycle, and it was a long embed," Winter said. "Like Haiti, it meant investing a lot of time and yourself into getting to know the people, but it was worthwhile in the end. And like Haiti, we were able to show an intimate portrait, without being sensational, and tell what it's like to serve in this war."
“A tremendously strong field of portfolios," judge Smiley Pool said today. "The first place winner [Damon Winter] exemplified excellence in diversity, storytelling and creativity. This portfolio has an international feel with tremendous stories from Haiti and U.S military efforts around the world. The images are tied together by a visual sophistication and an attention to detail that is second to none.”
Holahan's entire Photojournalist of the Year (Smaller Market) portfolio was entered in black-and-white (he says for continuity), and all of the photographs were shot at home, in the Augusta community.
"That's the story of my career," Holahan told News Photographer magazine today. "I'm a community photojournalism kind of guy. But it's tough sometimes to keep your eyes fresh when you look at the same thing day after day. I've been here for 15 years. On the other hand, you get to know your community intimately."
His portfolio is strong, not only in image quality but in the editing. "There are two times you get to take a picture," he said today, "when you shoot it and then again when you edit, when you're looking for the picture that's in the picture. Both times are equally important. You can take pictures, but if you don't find them in the edit, then they're lost."
"The first place winner [Michael Holahan] had a very strong story and a variety of excellent singles," judge Sherman Williams said, "which made this entry strong in both technique and quality. The judges felt that this photographer has a very good understanding of the community, and it comes through in the breadth of his work."
At the Augusta Chronicle the photographers do most of their own editing, but photography director John Curry is a strong editor as well. "He's a great guy who doesn't look over your shoulder too much, and we've got a really talented staff these days," Holahan said.
Best Of Show was Andrew McConnell's photograph of Josephine Mpongo practicing the cello in Knshasa, Democratic Republic Congo, which also won first place in The Art Of Entertainment category.
Canon USA contributed Canon G12 cameras as awards for the three Best Of Photojournalism photographers of the year winners. In addition to Damon Winter and Michael Holahan, the Ernie Crisp Television News Photographer of the Year Darren Durlach (formerly of WBFF-TV, now with The Boston Globe) will receive a G12.
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Cameron Spencer of Getty Images is the Sports Photojournalist of the Year for his portfolio that ranges from triathlons and mountain climbing to swimming and Olympics and World Cup soccer. Second place is Mark Dadswell of Getty Images, and third place is freelancer Donald Miralle Jr.
And the portfolio of Justin Maxon of Prospekt was selected as the winner of Cliff Edom's "New America Award" during the final categories of this year's judging. Maxon's photographic essay is about the people and families who are struggling to survive in Chester, PA, a town hard-hit by the declining economy and an increase crime, violence, and health issues such as cancer and asthma due to a half-dozen industrial sites along the Delaware River that are laden with toxins and pollution.
The Edom Award recognizes excellence in photographic storytelling about rural or ethnically diverse people. Clifton C. Edom (1907-1991), a University of Missouri School of Journalism professor, co-founded the Missouri Photographic Workshop with his wife, Vilia, in 1949. A fundamental belief behind Cliff Edom's "New America Award" is that in urban communities and rural towns the spirit of diversity is celebrated and witnessed in everyday life. One goal of the award is to recognize award-winning photographic storytelling about communities, groups, and issues in America that are often under-covered by the mainstream press.
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Here are the winners in the Best Of Photojournalism's individual Still Photography categories, announced today:
In the Domestic News category, first place is Kurt Roy of Zuma Press for his fiery spot news photograph of a CF-18 jet fighter exploding behind its parachuting pilot as he crashed during a practice flight for a Canadian air show in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada. Second place is freelancer Javier Manzano, and third place is Jim Gehrz of the Minneapolis Star Tribune. An honorable mention was awarded to Mark Garfinkel of the Boston Herald.
In the Domestic News Picture Story category, first place is Antonio Bolfo for Getty Images for a story on the New York City Police Department's Operation IMPACT, a program that takes the youngest and most untested officers and ships them into the most violent and dangerous neighborhoods for a full-scale plunge into "The Job." Second place is freelancer Javier Manzano, and third place is Michael Holahan of the Augusta Chronicle. An honorable mention was awarded to Katie Falkenberg of the Los Angeles Times.
In the General News category, first place is Chip Somodevilla of Getty Images for his photograph of a young woman laying down on the Arlington National Cemetery grave of her Marine boyfriend, killed in Afghanistan, on Memorial Day. Second place is Jessica Hill of the Associated Press, and third place is Win McNamee of Getty Images. Honorable mentions were awarded to Courtney Perry of The Dallas Morning News, and Michael Chow of the Arizona Republic.
In the International News category, first place is Meged Gozani of Walla! for a photograph of a Jewish settler running over Palestinian rock throwers with a car in East Jerusalem. Second place is Adam Dean of Panos Pictures, and third place is Jay Directo of Agence France-Presse. An honorable mention was awarded to Manpreet Romana of Agence France-Presse.
In the International News Picture Story category, first place is Adam Dean from Panos Pictures for his story about a Marine unit deployed in Helmand Provice, Afghanistan. Second place is Athit Perawongmeth of Getty Images, and third place is Finbarr O'Reilly of Reuters. Honorable mentions were awarded to Ahmad Gharabl of Agence France-Presse, and Sergei Supinsky of Agence France-Presse.
In the Best Published Picture Story category, first place is Barbara Davidson of the Los Angeles Times for her photographic essay of the victims of a decade or more of gang violence in southern California, In the series her photographs look at those who have been left behind – maimed victims, husbands, mothers, best friends of the dead – the ones who have to live on without forgetting what's happened to their loved ones. Earlier this year the essay was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Feature photography. Second place is Preston Gannaway of The Virginian-Pilot, and third place is Daniel Berehulak of Getty Images. Honorable mentions were awarded to Urban Andersson of Aftonbladet and Sebastian Liste of Reportage for Getty Images.
In the Enterprise category, first place is Lucas Jackson of Reuters for his photograph of the Empire State Building illuminated in red, white, and blue amidst reflections and beams of light from the Tribute In Light memorial on the ninth anniversary of 9/11. Second place is Gemunu Amarasinghe of the Associated Press, and third place is Debbie Egan-Chin of the New York Daily News. An honorable mention was awarded to Mads Nissen of Berlingske.
In the Enterprise Picture Story (Larger Markets) category, first place is Damon Winter of The New York Times for his story on the foreign psychiatrists who – after Haiti's deadly earthquake – vowed to help the Haitian government create a mental health care system better than the dysfunctional one they had before. Second place is Carol Guzy of The Washington Post, and third place is Lauren Greenfield. Honorable mentions were awarded to Alex Garcia of the Chicago Tribune, and Ed Ou for Reportage for Getty Images.
In the Enterprise Picture Story (Smaller Markets) category, first place is Michael Holahan of the Augusta Chronicle for his story on the children of Clementina Hagin, 34, who died in the small motel room she shared with her young children, and her offsprings' efforts to raise enough money to pay for their mother's funeral. Second place is freelancer Brad Vest, and third place is Erin Hooley of the Ogden Standard-Examiner. An honorable mention was awarded to Margaret Cheatham Williams from UNC-Chapel Hill.
In the Best Published Picture Story (Smaller Markets) category, first place is John Partipilo of The Tennessean for his story on gangs expanding their guns, drugs, and cash businesses to the suburbs and small towns. Second place is Mads Nissen, and third place is Jakub Kaminski of Rzeczpospolita. An honorable mention was awarded to Nissen as well.
In the Natural Disaster category, first place is Olivier Laban-Mattei of Agence France-Presse for his photograph of a morgue worker tossing bodies after a deadly 7.0 earthquake in Port-au-Prince in January. Second place is Adrees Latif of Reuters, and third place is Michael DeMocker of The Times-Picayune. Honorable mentions were awarded to Tim Wilborne of Reuters; Daniel Morel for The Wall Street Journal; and Carol Guzy of The Washington Post.
In the Natural Environment category, first place is Lucas Jackson of Reuters for his photograph of lightning streaking across the sky above the erupting Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland. Second place is Etienne de Malglaive, and third place is Chris Sweda of the Chicago Tribune. Honorable mentions were awarded to J. Pat Carter of the Associated Press and Katie Rausch of the Jackson Citizen Patriot.
In the Environmental Picture Story category, first place is Carol Guzy of The Washington Post for her coverage of the devastating earthquake in Haiti. Second place is Kemal Jufri for Stern in The New York Times, and third place is Joel Sartore.
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In the Returning Veterans, Coming Home category, the winner is Marvin Joseph of The Washington Post for his photographic essay on U.S. Army Spec. Robert Lewis Warren, who suffered a traumatic brain injury in and IED blast while serving in Kandahar. Doctors removed the entire left side of Warren's skull, later replacing it with an artificial insert, and the soldier and his wife and infant child are readjusting to civilian life back home in Arkansas. The contest category is sponsored by Dr. Vme Edom Smith and The Edom Foundation.
In the Road To Office category, first place is Maciek Nabrdalik of the VII Network for a single image from his coverage of Polish presidential candidate Jaroslaw Kaczynski's campaign. Second place is Melina Mara of The Washington Post, and third place is also Mara. Honorable mentions were awarded to Matt McClain of Getty Images and freelancer Bryan Thomas.
In the Road To Office Picture Story category, first place is Maciek Nabrdalik of the VII Network for his photo essay of Polish presidential candidate Jaroslaw Kaczynski's campaign for election. Second place is Melina Mara of The Washington Post, and third place is John Locher of the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
In the Local Portrait and Personality category, first place is Magnus Wennman of Aftonbladet for a portrait of a young Swedish granddaughter. Second place is Ross Taylor of The Virginian-Pilot, and third place is Wendell Phillips of Globepress Images. Honorable mentions were awarded to Martin Pauca of Peru21 and Michael Holahan of the Augusta Chronicle.
In the Portrait Series category, first place is Jed Conklin for zReportage for a collection of photographs of the Lilac City Roller Girls roller derby team. Second place is Wendell Phillips for Globepress, and third place is Robin Hammond for Panos and The Daily Beast. An honorable mention was awarded to Jay L. Clendenin of the Los Angeles Times.
In the Art Of Entertainment category, first place is Andrew McConnell of Panos Pictures for his photograph of a woman practicing the cello in the Kimbanguiste neighborhood of Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic Congo. Second place is John Tlumacki of The Boston Globe, and third place is Matt McClain of the Denver Post.
In the Non-Traditional Photojournalism Publishing category, first place is Christopher Capozziello of AEVUM for a photographic essay on his brother Nick, who suffers with cerebral palsy. Second place is Hazel Thompson on behalf of Bombay Teen Challenge's Campaign "Stop Sex Slavery," and third place is Rony Zakaria of Ru Images. An honorable mention was awarded to Matteo Bastianelli of Burn magazine.
In the Conceptual Photographic Illustration category, first place is Jon M. Fletcher for "Heaven and Hell." Second place is Kevin Vandivier of Rangefinder, and third place is Andrea Levy of The Plain Dealer.
In the Sports Action category, first place is Alberto Simon of Agence France-Press for his photograph of Spanish bullfighter Julio Aparicio being gored by a bull. Second place is Mark Pain of the Daily Mail for Zuma Press, and third place is Al Tielemans of Sports Illustrated. An honorable mention was awarded to Scott Strazzante of the Chicago Tribune.
In the Sports Feature category, first place is Tomasz Gudzowaty of Yours Gallery/Agentur Focus for his photograph of cars speeding on a salt flat desert in central Mexico. Second place is Mark Zaleski of The Press-Enterprise, and third place is Krystle Wright of 101010. Honorable mentions were awarded to Chu Youngzhi of Reuters, and Jonas Lindkvist of Dagens Nyheter.
In the Sports Picture Story category, first place is Scott Barbour of Getty Images for his photographic essay on the 2010 Australian Open at Melbourne Park. Second place is Leslie Mazoch of the Associated Press, and third place is Jonas Lindkvist of Dagens Nyheter. Honorable mentions were awareded to Gerry Melendez of The State and Carl de Souza of Agence France-Presse.
In the Olympics Action category, first place is Simon Bruty of Sports Illustrated for his picture of Erin Hamlin competing in the women's luge final in Vancouver. Second place is Mike Powell of Sports Illustrated, and third place is Peter Parks of Agence France-Press. An honorable mention was awarded to Wendell Phllips of Globepress Images.
In the Olympics Feature category, first place is Jim Young of Reuters for his photograph of Russia's Alexander Tretyakov hitting padding at the end of the men's skeleton event. Second place is Leon Neal of Agence France-Presse, and third place is Rick Madonik of the Toronto Star.
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There were a wide variety of judges involved in the first two rounds of selecting still photography finalists over the past several weeks, and then today a smaller panel of four judges picked the Best Of Photojournalism winners.
Today the final round was judged by Jim Colton, photography editor for Sports Illustrated; Sherman Williams, the assistant managing editor for visuals for The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; Amel Emric, an Associated Press editor and photojournalist in Sarajevo; and Smiley Pool, a senior photojournalist for the Houston Chronicle and an NPPA board member. The judging was coordinated by Harry Walker and Clyde Mueller, NPPA BOP contest chair and committee members.
The four final judges were joined in the earlier two selection rounds by judges Melissa Lyttle of the St. Petersburg Times, who is also an NPPA board member; Josh Meltzer, who is a photojournalist in residence at Western Kentucky University; Brad Mangin, a freelance sports photojournalist based in San Francisco; Ted Kirk, a staff photographer for the Lincoln Journal Star in Nebraska; Janet Reeves, the assistant managing editor for multimedia and photography for the Minneapolis Star Tribune; James Gregg, a multimedia journalists for the San Diego Union-Tribune; Naomi Halperin, photography director for The News Journal in Wilmington; Kenny Irby, director of visual journalism for The Poynter Institute for Media Studies; John Davidson, of Creative Eye Consulting; Michel du Cille, photography director for The Washington Post; and Bill Luster, a staff photojournalist for the Louisville Courier-Journal.
The Still Photography categories were for the first time judged this year using online judging technology developed in partnership with NPPA by PhotoShelter. Members of NPPA's Best Of Photojournalism contest committee, including Terry Eiler and Harry Walker, this spring worked with PhotoShelter's CEO Allen Murabayashi and Grover Sanschagrin to develop the contest's new judging methodology.
The 2011 Best Of Photojournalism competition was sponsored this year by Canon as well as by the Poynter Institute for Media Studies, ibiblio, Camera Bits, Ohio University's School of Visual Communication, and the St. Petersburg Times.
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