Paul Hansen
Photographer Paul Hansen, a staff photographer with the Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter, has won newspaper photographer of the year in the 67th annual Picture of the Year International competition at the Missouri School of Journalism. Second place went to Mads Nissen of Denmark, a staff photographer at the Danish daily Berlingske Tidende. Denver Post staff photographer Craig Walker took third place. The winning portfolios were announced over the weekend.
The judges struggled to narrow the winner down from six
finalists. "There wasn't one that gave me everything I was looking
for," said judge Pedro Ugarte, an Agence France-Presse
photographer, at the start of the deliberations. Another judge,
Chicago Tribune photographer Scott Strazzante, said as the
deliberations dragged on, "Overall, this was a weak year for
newspaper portfolios." (The deliberations were transmitted via live
Webcast.)
The Community Awareness Award, announced on Friday, went to freelance photographer Stephanie Sinclair for her project called "Polygamy in America," about a fundamentalist breakaway sect of the Mormon church. Sinclair has won several other awards in the past two years, including the CARE International Award and the Alexia Foundation Grant. Barbara Davidson of the Los Angeles Times won special recognition from the judges for her runner-up project called "Frozen Land, Forgotten People," about an area of disputed Native American land in Arizona.
Besides Strazzante and Ugarte, the judging panel included
freelance photojournalist Kathy Anderson, and photographer and ZUMA
Press founder Scott Mc Kiernan.
First place awards announced last week for various POYi
newspaper categories included:
Feature Picture Story: "Choosing Thomas: A Family's Journey with Infant
Death," Sonya N. Hebert, Dallas Morning News.
One Week's Work: Preston Gannaway, The Virginian
Pilot.
Newspaper News Picture Story: "Military Camp," photographer
unidentified.
Issue Reporting Picture Story: "Frozen Land, Forgotten People," Barbara
Davidson, Los Angeles Times.
Sports Portfolio: Smiley N. Pool, Houston Chronicle.
Sports Picture Story: "Untitled" (Lance Armstrong's comeback),
Elizabeth Kreutz.
A complete list of winners in the various general division and
newspaper categories is available at the POYi Web site. Freelance and and
agency photographer entries will be judged this week, culminating
with the Freelance/Agency Photographer of the Year award on
Friday.
Related story: National Geographic Wins Top Editing Award in POYi Contest (includes a list of all of last year's top POYi award winners)
