Congratulations Pulitzer Prize winners

The Pulitzer Prize organization announced the 2007 winners. I congratulate their work.

Oded Balilty of the Associated Press won the a Breaking News Photography award with an image of a female Jewish settler pushing against the shields of Israeli security officers.

Renee C. Byer of The Sacramento Bee won the Feature Photography award with her story of a single mother and her son as he suffers through and dies from cancer.
 

PJ contest calendar

All information on this page is subject to change without notification. Check the Web site listed for current information. Competitions on this page are typically held annually. If this page was not updated recently, check the same month in a previous year.

Know about a contest not listed? Please suggest contests, grants or competitive internships or scholarships. Please see Suggest PJ contests.

Please let me know if any information changes or a contest tries to grab rights.



2008
Jan | Feb | March | April | May | June
July | Aug | Sept | Oct | Nov | Dec

January 01, 2008
Back to top

January 07, 2008
NPPA Monthly Clip Contest
Contact: Regional clip chair
By NPPA region
E-mail: contests@nppa.org
Web: www.nppa.org/competitions
Admission: No entry fee. Must be a paid NPPA member.
Clip contest features five monthly categories. They are: Spot News, General News, Sports, Feature Single and Multiple Picture Story. Illustration is quarterly. Points are awarded with an annual regional Photographer of the Year award.
Limit of nine entries per month. Entries must have been published (printed or electronically reproduced by a commercial enterprise). Illustrations are held until the next quarterly judging period.
Please read How to submit NPPA clips.

January 10, 2008
World Press Photo deadline
World Press Photo, Jacob Obrechtstraat 26, 1071 KM Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Phone: +31 20 676 6096
E-mail: office@worldpressphoto.nl
Web: www.worldpressphoto.nl
Admission: No entry fee.
Annual.

January 15, 2008
(must arrive by date)
Days Japan International Photojournalism Awards
Takeuchi Building 302, 1-37-19 Matsubara, Setagaya-ku Tokyo, 156-0043 Japan
Phone: +81(0)3-3322-0233
E-mail: kikaku@daysjapan.net
Web: www.daysjapan.net
Admission: No admission fee.
Only prints accepted. 1st prize is 1 million yen and a digital camera, 2nd is 300K yen and dit, 3rd is 100K yen, special prize by jury is 100K yen, Reader's Prize is 50K yen.
Photographs must compellingly relate the issues that people are facing around the world. We aim to tell the truth from the perspective of victimized civilians and not of those exercising authority through military or other power.
Annual.

January 15, 2008
(postmarked)
Joseph Costa Award for Courtroom Photography
Contact: Ken Heinen
Department of Journalism – AJ300, Ball State University, Muncie, IN 47306
Phone: 765 285-8217
E-mail: kenheinen@bsu.edu
Admission: No entry fee. Clip contest.
Each entry must also include a letter signed by the photographer or a representative of the publication that describes the circumstances of the photograph(s), the publication name, the date of publication, the photographer's name, address and telephone number.
Multiple-image entries are permitted.

January 15, 2008
NPPA video/multimedia clip deadline
Online entry
Web: www.nppa.org
Admission: Free to enter. Must be an NPPA member.
Previous month's video, audio slideshows and multimedia projects accepted until the 15th of the following month.

January 15, 2008
(postmarked)
Pulitzer Prize: Music deadline
The Pulitzer Prize Office, 709 Journalism, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027
Phone: 212 854-3841
Web: www.pulitzer.org
Admission: $50 entry fee per piece.
Annual.

January 16, 2008
NPPA video/multimedia clip judging period
Online judging
Web: www.nppa.org
Admission: Must be an NPPA member to judge.
Previous month's video, audio slideshows and multimedia projects are presented for NPPA members to judge. Members are encouraged to vote for the best work in each category. Judging continues until the end of the month.

January 16, 2008
Society for Newspaper Design U.S. deadline
S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, Syracuse University, 215 University Place, Syracuse, NY 13244-2100
Phone: 401 294-5233
E-mail: competition@su-snd.org
Web: www.snd.org
Admission: $12 to $30 per entry based on publication circulation and number of pages.
Annual.
Tearsheet competition.

January 18, 2008
Pictures Of The Year International (POYi) deadline
Contact: David Rees, POYi Director
109 Lee Hills Hall, Columbia MO 65211
Phone: 573 882-4882
E-mail: info@poyi.org
Web: www.poy.org
Admission: $50 per photographer.
FTP only.
Annual.

January 23, 2008
Hearst Journalism Awards Program
Photo Competition II: News and Sports
E-mail: photos@hearstfdn.org
Web: hearstfdn.org
Admission: Free. CD or e-mail entry.
The 47th annual program offers up to $500,000 in awards, consisting of six monthly writing, three photojournalism, and four broadcast news competitions - with championship finals in all divisions.
Graduate students and students who have been a pro more than a year in their career are ineligible.
See Web site for additional rules.
Annual.

January 23, 2008
Society for Newspaper Design outside U.S. deadline
S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, Syracuse University, 215 University Place, Syracuse, NY 13244-2100
Phone: 401 294-5233
E-mail: competition@su-snd.org
Web: www.snd.org
Admission: $12 to $30 per entry based on publication circulation and number of pages.
Annual.
Tearsheet competition.

January 30, 2008
Overseas Press Club of America contest deadline
Contact: Sonya Fry, executive director
40 West 45 Street, New York NY 10036
Phone: 212 626-9220
E-mail: sonya@opcofamerica.org
Web: www.opcofamerica.org
Admission: $150 per entry. $1,000 cash prizes awarded. Magazine and newspaper divisions. CD submission with documentation of publication required.
Annual.

January 31, 2008
Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Awards deadline
Journalism Awards Director, The Robert F. Kennedy Memorial, 1367 Connecticut Ave., NW, Ste. 200, Washington DC 20036
Phone: 202 463-7575
Web: www.rfkmemorial.org
Admission: $50 per essay entry. Cash prizes awarded.
Scrapbook portfolio 11 x 14 format. Essay only. Documentation required.
Entries may include accounts of the lifestyles, challenges and potentials of the disadvantage in the United States and around the world: insights into the causes, conditions and remedies of their plight, and the critical analysies of public policies, prog
Pro, college and high school categories.
Annual.

January 31, 2008
(postmark date)
Scripps Howard Foundation National Journalism Awards
National Journalism Awards
Scripps Howard Foundation
312 Walnut Street, 28th Floor
Cincinnati, OH 45202-4067
Phone: 1-800-888-3000
E-mail: porters@scripps.com
Web: foundation.scripps.com
Admission: $50 entry fee must be included for each entry in a category. Must have a sponsoring letter of nomination signed by someone other than the nominee who is employed by the same organization. Only two entries per category from the same organization.
Cash prizes are $10,000. The Ursula and Gilbert Farfel Fund provides a $25,000 prize for investigative reporting. Cash awards totaling $195,000 are presented to winners at awards dinner on 4/20/07 at the National Press Club in Washington DC.
Annual.

January 31, 2008
(postmark date)
The Sidney Hillman Foundation Journalism Awards
Contact: Amanda Cooper
275 Seventh Ave., New York, NY 10001
Phone: 212 265-7000 x4760
E-mail: Web-based
Web: www.hillmanfoundation.org
Admission: Free entry. $2,000 prize and plaque in categories of Photojournalism, Books, Newspaper Reporting, Magazine Reporting, Broadcast Journalism and Blogs.
No entry form. Online entry for blogs. Must submit three copies of other materials.
Foundation is union affiliated and supported.
Annual.

February 01, 2008
Back to top

February 01, 2008
(postmarked) and received by Feb. 4, 2008.
American Society of Newspaper Editors awards
Contact: Cristal Williams
ASNE Awards, The Poynter Institute, 801 Third Street South, St. Petersburg, FL 33701-9981
Phone: 727 821-9494
E-mail: cwilliams@asne.org
Web: www.poynter.org
Admission: No fees. However, a news organization can make only one entry in each of the nine categories. An individual can't be entered in more than one category.
Photographic print competition (gloss paper, 15 image max, must have been published) plus a CD. A cash prize of $2,500 is awarded in Community Service Photojournalism Award for a PJ who has an understanding of his/her community with meaningful images.
Annual.

February 01, 2008
Best of Photojournalism (BOP) deadline
Contact: NPPA contest
Online delivery location.
E-mail: contests@nppa.org
Web: www.nppa.org/competitions
Admission: No entry fee.
Annual.
Multiple categories within the broad categories of Still photography, Web sites, Photo editing and (TV) News video.

February 01, 2008
TBA (Feb.)
NSC Still Photo Contest deadline
Contact: Northern Short Course in Photojournalism
Phone: 401-732-6000
E-mail: marketing@nppa.org
Web: www.northernshortcourse.com
Admission: $6 per single, $50 per portfolio of the year, $75 max for limit of 20 entries. Contest is only open to NPPA members of Regions 1, 2 and 3.
Please see the contest entry form, rules and guidelines (PDF).
Annual.

February 01, 2008
P-com Creative Awards
Contact: Portfolios.com
Phone: 1-800-303-9277 ext.221
Web: www.portfolios.com
Admission: $35 per entry. $50 per series. $20 per student entry (single or series).
Online submission (72 ppi by 650 max side). Gold, silver and bronze awards granted in the fields of Advertising, Broadcast, Graphic Design, Web Design, Photography and Illustration.
Annual. Est. 2004

February 01, 2008
(postmarked)
Pulitzer Prize: Journalism deadline
The Pulitzer Prize Board, 709 Journalism, 2950 Broadway, Mail Code 3865, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027
Phone: 212 854-3841
Web: www.pulitzer.org
Admission: $50 entry fee per piece.
Scrapbook format with documentation.
Annual.

February 05, 2008
Quill and Scroll Society International Photo Contest for high school students
Contact: Quill and Scroll Society (an international honorary society for high school journalists)
University of Iowa School of Journalism and Mass Comm, 100 Adler Journalism Bldg. E346, Iowa City IA 52242
Phone: 319 335-3457 , fax 319 335-3989
E-mail: quill-scroll@uiowa.edu
Web: www.uiowa.edu
Admission: $2 fee per entry. School registration form required. Limited to four entries per school per division.
Contest is for currently enrolled high school students. Awards are made in 12 divisions (for photo - news and sports). Winners get National Award Gold Key and, if seniors, are eligible to apply for one of the $500 Edward J. Nell Memorial Scholarships.
Submission requires tearsheet and print.
University of Iowa sponsors.
Annual.

February 21, 2008
NPPA Monthly Clip Contest
Online
E-mail: contests@nppa.org
Web: www.nppa.org/competitions
Admission: No entry fee. Must be a paid NPPA member.
Clip contest features five monthly categories. They are: Spot News, General News, Sports, Feature Single and Multiple Picture Story. Illustration is quarterly. Points are awarded with an annual regional Photographer of the Year award.
Limit of nine entries per month. Entries must have been published (printed or electronically reproduced by a commercial enterprise). Illustrations are held until the next quarterly judging period.
As of Jan. 2008, this contest is completely digital. Since this is the first month, the deadline was extended.

February 08, 2008
World Press Photo winners announced
Web: www.worldpressphoto.nl
Annual.

February 15, 2008
NPPA video/multimedia clip deadline
Online entry
Web: www.nppa.org
Admission: Free to enter. Must be an NPPA member.
Previous month's video, audio slideshows and multimedia projects accepted until the 15th of the following month.

February 16, 2008
NPPA video/multimedia clip judging period
Online judging
Web: www.nppa.org
Admission: Must be an NPPA member to judge.
Previous month's video, audio slideshows and multimedia projects are presented for NPPA members to judge. Members are encouraged to vote for the best work in each category. Judging continues until the end of the month.

February 17, 2008
Feb. 17 - March 7, 2008
Pictures Of The Year International (POYi) judging
109 Lee Hills Hall, Columbia MO 65211
Web: www.poy.org
Annual.

March 01, 2008
Back to top

March 01, 2008
TBA (in March)
Days Japan International Photojournalism Awards announced
Web: www.daysjapan.net

March 04, 2008
Hearst Journalism Awards Program
Photo Competition III: Picture Story/Series
E-mail: photos@hearstfdn.org
Web: hearstfdn.org
Admission: Free. CD or e-mail entry.
The 47th annual program offers up to $500,000 in awards, consisting of six monthly writing, three photojournalism, and four broadcast news competitions - with championship finals in all divisions.
Graduate students and students who have been a pro more than a year in their career are ineligible.
See Web site for additional rules.
Annual.

March 07, 2008
NPPA Monthly Clip Contest
Online
E-mail: contests@nppa.org
Web: www.nppa.org/competitions
Admission: No entry fee. Must be a paid NPPA member.
Clip contest features five monthly categories. They are: Spot News, General News, Sports, Feature Single and Multiple Picture Story. Illustration is quarterly. Points are awarded with an annual regional Photographer of the Year award.
Limit of nine entries per month. Entries must have been published (printed or electronically reproduced by a commercial enterprise). Illustrations are held until the next quarterly judging period.
As of Jan. 2008, this contest is completely digital.

March 07, 2008
NPPA Quarterly Student Clip Contest
Contact: Brian Immel or Joe Barrentine
Online entry
Phone: 253 312-3169 or 253 988-1870
E-mail: brian@collegefrontpage.com or joe@collegefrontpage.com
Web: nppa.collegefrontpage.com
Admission: No entry fee.
Quarterly NPPA student clip contest features four categories. They are: News, Sports, Feature Single and Multiple Picture Story. Points are awarded as in the pro divisions with an annual Student Photographer of the Year award.
Limit of 12 entries per quarter.
Quarterly
Please read How to submit NPPA clips.

March 13, 2008
March 13-15
Northern Short Course
Contact: Northern Short Course in Photojournalism
Hyatt Regency, Rochester, NY
Phone: 401-732-6000
E-mail: marketing@nppa.org
Web: www.northernshortcourse.com
Admission: Registration required.
Contact the Hyatt Regency and ask for the NPPA/NSC rate.
Annual. Est. 1982

March 15, 2008
NPPA video/multimedia clip deadline
Online entry
Web: www.nppa.org
Admission: Free to enter. Must be an NPPA member.
Previous month's video, audio slideshows and multimedia projects accepted until the 15th of the following month.

March 16, 2008
NPPA video/multimedia clip judging period
Online judging
Web: www.nppa.org
Admission: Must be an NPPA member to judge.
Previous month's video, audio slideshows and multimedia projects are presented for NPPA members to judge. Members are encouraged to vote for the best work in each category. Judging continues until the end of the month.

April 01, 2008
Back to top

April 01, 2008
TBA (in April)
Asia Press Photo Contest
Contact: Asia News Network/China Daily
E-mail: asianewsphoto@chinadaily.net.cn
Web: www.asianewsphoto.com
Photos must reflect changes taking place in Asia in any of eight categories and in keeping with the contest's annual theme.
FTP international contest awards one gold prize and 20 other honorary prizes in each category. Gold prizes are $1,000 (US) and free roundtrip ticket to get award. Honorary prize is inclusion in the yearbook and exhibitions.
Annual.

April 07, 2008
NPPA Monthly Clip Contest
Online
E-mail: contests@nppa.org
Web: www.nppa.org/competitions
Admission: No entry fee. Must be a paid NPPA member.
Clip contest features five monthly categories. They are: Spot News, General News, Sports, Feature Single and Multiple Picture Story. Illustration is quarterly. Points are awarded with an annual regional Photographer of the Year award.
Limit of nine entries per month. Entries must have been published (printed or electronically reproduced by a commercial enterprise). Illustrations are held until the next quarterly judging period.
As of Jan. 2008, this contest is completely digital.

April 15, 2008
2008 World-Wide Filmmaker Showdown
Contact: Lilli Clark
C/O Watermark Communications, #10 iV 1006 Lynham Rd, Whistler, B.C., VON 1B1
Phone: 604 938-3399 x 27
E-mail: lclark@watermarkinc.ca
Web: www.whistler2008.com
Admission:
Extreme sports competition features a $15,000 in prizes.
Photographers must personally present their work.
Annual.
TELUS World Ski & Snowboard Festival sponsors.

April 15, 2008
NPPA video/multimedia clip deadline
Online entry
Web: www.nppa.org
Admission: Free to enter. Must be an NPPA member.
Previous month's video, audio slideshows and multimedia projects accepted until the 15th of the following month.

April 16, 2008
NPPA video/multimedia clip judging period
Online judging
Web: www.nppa.org
Admission: Must be an NPPA member to judge.
Previous month's video, audio slideshows and multimedia projects are presented for NPPA members to judge. Members are encouraged to vote for the best work in each category. Judging continues until the end of the month.

April 17, 2008
2008 World-Wide Pro Photographer Showdown
Contact: Lilli Clark
C/O Watermark Communications, #10 iV 1006 Lynham Rd, Whistler, B.C., VON 1B1
Phone: 604 938-3399 x 27
E-mail: lclark@watermarkinc.ca
Web: www.whistler2008.com
Admission:
Extreme sports competition features a $10,000 cash prize.
Photographers must personally present their work.
Annual.
TELUS World Ski & Snowboard Festival sponsors.

May 01, 2008
Back to top

May 01, 2008
TBA (in May)
Eddie Adams Workshop (Barnstorm)
E-mail: info@eddieadamsworkshop.com
Web: www.eddieadamsworkshop.com
Admission: The tuition-free workshop is limited to 100 students with the best portfolios. Applications are taken online only.
Barnstorm XX will be held October 5-8, 2007 in Jeffersonville, NY.
Annual.

May 07, 2008
NPPA Monthly Clip Contest
Online
E-mail: contests@nppa.org
Web: www.nppa.org/competitions
Admission: No entry fee. Must be a paid NPPA member.
Clip contest features five monthly categories. They are: Spot News, General News, Sports, Feature Single and Multiple Picture Story. Illustration is quarterly. Points are awarded with an annual regional Photographer of the Year award.
Limit of nine entries per month. Entries must have been published (printed or electronically reproduced by a commercial enterprise). Illustrations are held until the next quarterly judging period.
As of Jan. 2008, this contest is completely digital.

May 15, 2008
TBA mid May
Hearst Journalism Awards Program
Photo Semi-Final
E-mail: photos@hearstfdn.org
Web: hearstfdn.org
Admission: Free. CD or e-mail entry.
The 47th annual program offers up to $500,000 in awards, consisting of six monthly writing, three photojournalism, and four broadcast news competitions - with championship finals in all divisions.
Graduate students and students who have been a pro more than a year in their career are ineligible.
See Web site for additional rules.
Annual.

May 15, 2008
NPPA video/multimedia clip deadline
Online entry
Web: www.nppa.org
Admission: Free to enter. Must be an NPPA member.
Previous month's video, audio slideshows and multimedia projects accepted until the 15th of the following month.

May 16, 2008
NPPA video/multimedia clip judging period
Online judging
Web: www.nppa.org
Admission: Must be an NPPA member to judge.
Previous month's video, audio slideshows and multimedia projects are presented for NPPA members to judge. Members are encouraged to vote for the best work in each category. Judging continues until the end of the month.

June 01, 2008
Back to top

June 01, 2008
TBA (early June)
Southern Newspaper Publishers Association Photo of the Year contest
Web: www.snpa.org
Cash prizes and crystal awards.
Annual.

June 04, 2008
TBA one week in early June
Hearst Journalism Awards Program
National Championships
Annual.

June 07, 2008
NPPA Monthly Clip Contest
Online
E-mail: contests@nppa.org
Web: www.nppa.org/competitions
Admission: No entry fee. Must be a paid NPPA member.
Clip contest features five monthly categories. They are: Spot News, General News, Sports, Feature Single and Multiple Picture Story. Illustration is quarterly. Points are awarded with an annual regional Photographer of the Year award.
Limit of nine entries per month. Entries must have been published (printed or electronically reproduced by a commercial enterprise). Illustrations are held until the next quarterly judging period.
As of Jan. 2008, this contest is completely digital.

June 07, 2008
NPPA Quarterly Student Clip Contest
Contact: Brian Immel or Joe Barrentine
Online entry
Phone: 253 312-3169 or 253 988-1870
E-mail: brian@collegefrontpage.com or joe@collegefrontpage.com
Web: nppa.collegefrontpage.com
Admission: No entry fee.
Quarterly NPPA student clip contest features four categories. They are: News, Sports, Feature Single and Multiple Picture Story. Points are awarded as in the pro divisions with an annual Student Photographer of the Year award.
Limit of 12 entries per quarter.
Quarterly
Please read How to submit NPPA clips.

June 15, 2008
NPPA video/multimedia clip deadline
Online entry
Web: www.nppa.org
Admission: Free to enter. Must be an NPPA member.
Previous month's video, audio slideshows and multimedia projects accepted until the 15th of the following month.

June 15, 2008
(postmarked)
Pulitzer Prize: In Letters (Books) deadline
The Pulitzer Prize Office, 709 Journalism, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027
Phone: 212 854-3841
Web: www.pulitzer.org
Admission: $50 entry fee per piece.
Books published from January 1 to June 14.
Annual.

June 16, 2008
NPPA video/multimedia clip judging period
Online judging
Web: www.nppa.org
Admission: Must be an NPPA member to judge.
Previous month's video, audio slideshows and multimedia projects are presented for NPPA members to judge. Members are encouraged to vote for the best work in each category. Judging continues until the end of the month.

July 01, 2008
Back to top

July 01, 2008
NPPA Women In PhotoJournalism contest
Contact: Tahra Makinson-Sanders, director of photography for The Press Democrat
St. Louis, MO
E-mail: tmaksan@yahoo.com
Web: www.womeninphotojournalism.org
Admission: $8 per picture for students, $12 per picture for NPPA professional members and $17 per picture for non-members. Submissions from female PJs only.
"There are no categories, only your interpretation of the theme" stated organizers.
Both FTP and CD submissions accepted.
Annual. Est. 2000

July 07, 2008
NPPA Monthly Clip Contest
Online
E-mail: contests@nppa.org
Web: www.nppa.org/competitions
Admission: No entry fee. Must be a paid NPPA member.
Clip contest features five monthly categories. They are: Spot News, General News, Sports, Feature Single and Multiple Picture Story. Illustration is quarterly. Points are awarded with an annual regional Photographer of the Year award.
Limit of nine entries per month. Entries must have been published (printed or electronically reproduced by a commercial enterprise). Illustrations are held until the next quarterly judging period.
As of Jan. 2008, this contest is completely digital.

July 15, 2008
Howard Chapnick Grant
W. Eugene Smith Fund, Inc., c/o International Center of Photography, 1133 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10036
Web: www.smithfund.org
Admission: No entry fees.
Grant of $5,000 is for the advancement of photojournalism in leadership and fields ancillary to photojournalism (editing, research, education and management).
Projects that promote social change and/or serve significant concerns of photojournalism are preferred.

July 15, 2008
NPPA video/multimedia clip deadline
Online entry
Web: www.nppa.org
Admission: Free to enter. Must be an NPPA member.
Previous month's video, audio slideshows and multimedia projects accepted until the 15th of the following month.

July 15, 2008
W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund
W. Eugene Smith Fund, Inc., c/o International Center of Photography, 1133 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10036
Web: www.smithfund.org
Admission: No entry fees.
Grant of $30,000 with an additional $5,000 in fellowship money is awarded annual by a jury to a photographer whose past work and proposed project follows the tradition of W. Eugene Smith's compassionate dedication exhibited during his career.
Projects that promote social change and/or serve significant concerns of photojournalism are preferred.

July 16, 2008
NPPA video/multimedia clip judging period
Online judging
Web: www.nppa.org
Admission: Must be an NPPA member to judge.
Previous month's video, audio slideshows and multimedia projects are presented for NPPA members to judge. Members are encouraged to vote for the best work in each category. Judging continues until the end of the month.

August 01, 2008
Back to top

August 07, 2008
NPPA Monthly Clip Contest
Online
E-mail: contests@nppa.org
Web: www.nppa.org/competitions
Admission: No entry fee. Must be a paid NPPA member.
Clip contest features five monthly categories. They are: Spot News, General News, Sports, Feature Single and Multiple Picture Story. Illustration is quarterly. Points are awarded with an annual regional Photographer of the Year award.
Limit of nine entries per month. Entries must have been published (printed or electronically reproduced by a commercial enterprise). Illustrations are held until the next quarterly judging period.
As of Jan. 2008, this contest is completely digital.

August 15, 2008
NPPA video/multimedia clip deadline
Online entry
Web: www.nppa.org
Admission: Free to enter. Must be an NPPA member.
Previous month's video, audio slideshows and multimedia projects accepted until the 15th of the following month.

August 16, 2008
NPPA video/multimedia clip judging period
Online judging
Web: www.nppa.org
Admission: Must be an NPPA member to judge.
Previous month's video, audio slideshows and multimedia projects are presented for NPPA members to judge. Members are encouraged to vote for the best work in each category. Judging continues until the end of the month.

September 01, 2008
Back to top

September 07, 2008
NPPA Monthly Clip Contest
Online
E-mail: contests@nppa.org
Web: www.nppa.org/competitions
Admission: No entry fee. Must be a paid NPPA member.
Clip contest features five monthly categories. They are: Spot News, General News, Sports, Feature Single and Multiple Picture Story. Illustration is quarterly. Points are awarded with an annual regional Photographer of the Year award.
Limit of nine entries per month. Entries must have been published (printed or electronically reproduced by a commercial enterprise). Illustrations are held until the next quarterly judging period.
As of Jan. 2008, this contest is completely digital.

September 07, 2008
NPPA Quarterly Student Clip Contest
Contact: Brian Immel or Joe Barrentine
Online entry
Phone: 253 312-3169 or 253 988-1870
E-mail: brian@collegefrontpage.com or joe@collegefrontpage.com
Web: nppa.collegefrontpage.com
Admission: No entry fee.
Quarterly NPPA student clip contest features four categories. They are: News, Sports, Feature Single and Multiple Picture Story. Points are awarded as in the pro divisions with an annual Student Photographer of the Year award.
Limit of 12 entries per quarter.
Quarterly
Please read How to submit NPPA clips.

September 15, 2008
NPPA video/multimedia clip deadline
Online entry
Web: www.nppa.org
Admission: Free to enter. Must be an NPPA member.
Previous month's video, audio slideshows and multimedia projects accepted until the 15th of the following month.

September 16, 2008
NPPA video/multimedia clip judging period
Online judging
Web: www.nppa.org
Admission: Must be an NPPA member to judge.
Previous month's video, audio slideshows and multimedia projects are presented for NPPA members to judge. Members are encouraged to vote for the best work in each category. Judging continues until the end of the month.

October 01, 2008
Back to top

October 01, 2008
TBA (early Oct.)
College Photographer of the Year deadline
Contact: Rita Reed, CPOY director
Lee Hills Hall, University of Missouri - Columbia, Columbia MO 65211
Phone: 573.884.2188
E-mail: info@cpoy.org
Web: www.cpoy.org
The competition is open to undergraduate or graduate students enrolled in any college or university worldwide for at least one semester within the last year. Student PJs who have worked more than 2 years as a pro (including internships) are ineligible.
This competition is completely digital now. Only online entries are accepted. College advisors are contacted via e-mail to verify eligibility.
Please read the interviews with previous award winners for help and/or inspiration.
Annual.

October 01, 2008
TBA (mid-Oct.)
SNPA winners announced
Web: www.snpa.org
Annual.

October 07, 2008
NPPA Monthly Clip Contest
Online
E-mail: contests@nppa.org
Web: www.nppa.org/competitions
Admission: No entry fee. Must be a paid NPPA member.
Clip contest features five monthly categories. They are: Spot News, General News, Sports, Feature Single and Multiple Picture Story. Illustration is quarterly. Points are awarded with an annual regional Photographer of the Year award.
Limit of nine entries per month. Entries must have been published (printed or electronically reproduced by a commercial enterprise). Illustrations are held until the next quarterly judging period.
As of Jan. 2008, this contest is completely digital.

October 15, 2008
NPPA video/multimedia clip deadline
Online entry
Web: www.nppa.org
Admission: Free to enter. Must be an NPPA member.
Previous month's video, audio slideshows and multimedia projects accepted until the 15th of the following month.

October 15, 2008
(postmarked)
Pulitzer Prize: In Letters (Books) deadline
The Pulitzer Prize Office, 709 Journalism, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027
Phone: 212 854-3841
Web: www.pulitzer.org
Admission: $50 entry fee per piece.
Books published June 15 to December 31. Submit gally proof of books to be published in November and December.
Annual.

October 16, 2008
NPPA video/multimedia clip judging period
Online judging
Web: www.nppa.org
Admission: Must be an NPPA member to judge.
Previous month's video, audio slideshows and multimedia projects are presented for NPPA members to judge. Members are encouraged to vote for the best work in each category. Judging continues until the end of the month.

November 01, 2008
Back to top

November 01, 2008
TBA (in Nov.)
Hearst Journalism Awards Program
Photo Competition I: Portrait/Personality and Feature
E-mail: photos@hearstfdn.org
Web: hearstfdn.org
Admission: Free. CD or e-mail entry.
The annual program offers up to $500,000 in awards, consisting of six monthly writing, three photojournalism, and four broadcast news competitions - with championship finals in all divisions.
Graduate students and students who have been a pro more than a year in their career are ineligible.
See Web site for additional rules.
Annual.

November 01, 2008
TBA Nov.
NPPA/Nikon Documentary Sabbatical Grant competition deadline
Contact: Bill Luster, sabbatical administrator
3613 Sorrento Ave., Louisville KY 40241
E-mail: contests@nppa.org
Web: www.nppa.org/competitions
Admission: No entry fee.
The National Press Photographers Association and Nikon Inc. award one inspired photojournalist a $15,000 stipend to undertake the project unencumbered by daily assignments.
Annual.

November 01, 2008
(postmarked)
Quill and Scroll Society International Yearbook Excellence Contest for high school students
Contact: Quill and Scroll Society (an international honorary society for high school journalists)
University of Iowa School of Journalism and Mass Comm, 100 Adler Journalism Bldg. E346, Iowa City IA 52242
Phone: 319 335-3457 , fax 319 335-3989
E-mail: quill-scroll@uiowa.edu
Web: www.uiowa.edu
Admission: $2 fee per entry. School registration form required. Limited to four entries per school per division.
Contest is for currently enrolled high school students. Awards are made in 12 divisions (for photo - Academic, Feature and Sports Action). Winners get National Award Gold Key and, if seniors, are eligible to apply for one of the $500 Edward J. Nell Memorial Scholarships.
Submission requires tearsheet and print.
University of Iowa sponsors.
Annual.

November 07, 2008
NPPA Monthly Clip Contest
Online
E-mail: contests@nppa.org
Web: www.nppa.org/competitions
Admission: No entry fee. Must be a paid NPPA member.
Clip contest features five monthly categories. They are: Spot News, General News, Sports, Feature Single and Multiple Picture Story. Illustration is quarterly. Points are awarded with an annual regional Photographer of the Year award.
Limit of nine entries per month. Entries must have been published (printed or electronically reproduced by a commercial enterprise). Illustrations are held until the next quarterly judging period.
As of Jan. 2008, this contest is completely digital.

November 12, 2008
The Atlanta Photojournalism Seminar contest deadline
Contact: Jeremy Brooks
The Atlanta Photojournalism Seminar contest, PMB #301, 541 10th St. NW, Atlanta, GA 30318-5713
Phone: 404 982-9359
E-mail: contest@photojournalism.org
Web: www.photojournalism.org
Admission: $40 per photographer. Awards include cash and Nikon equipment.
Annual.

November 15, 2008
NPPA video/multimedia clip deadline
Online entry
Web: www.nppa.org
Admission: Free to enter. Must be an NPPA member.
Previous month's video, audio slideshows and multimedia projects accepted until the 15th of the following month.

November 15, 2008
The Aftermath Project Grant
Contact: Kirsten Rian, executive director
E-mail: kirsten@theaftermathproject.org
Web: theaftermathproject.org
One $25K grant awarded. Winner is expected to spend a year covering the story.
Grant proposals should reflect an understanding of this grant's mission (conflict aftermath).
Annual.

November 16, 2008
NPPA video/multimedia clip judging period
Online judging
Web: www.nppa.org
Admission: Must be an NPPA member to judge.
Previous month's video, audio slideshows and multimedia projects are presented for NPPA members to judge. Members are encouraged to vote for the best work in each category. Judging continues until the end of the month.

December 01, 2008
Back to top

December 05, 2008
Dec. 5-6, 2008
The Atlanta Photojournalism Seminar contest winners announced
Contact: Zack Arias, contest chairman
Web: www.photojournalism.org
Admission:Awards include cash and Nikon equipment.
Annual.

December 07, 2008
NPPA Monthly Clip Contest
Online
E-mail: contests@nppa.org
Web: www.nppa.org/competitions
Admission: No entry fee. Must be a paid NPPA member.
Clip contest features five monthly categories. They are: Spot News, General News, Sports, Feature Single and Multiple Picture Story. Illustration is quarterly. Points are awarded with an annual regional Photographer of the Year award.
Limit of nine entries per month. Entries must have been published (printed or electronically reproduced by a commercial enterprise). Illustrations are held until the next quarterly judging period.
As of Jan. 2008, this contest is completely digital.

December 15, 2008
NPPA video/multimedia clip deadline
Online entry
Web: www.nppa.org
Admission: Free to enter. Must be an NPPA member.
Previous month's video, audio slideshows and multimedia projects accepted until the 15th of the following month.

December 16, 2008
NPPA Quarterly Student Clip Contest
Contact: Brian Immel or Joe Barrentine
Online entry
Phone: 253 312-3169 or 253 988-1870
E-mail: brian@collegefrontpage.com or joe@collegefrontpage.com
Web: nppa.collegefrontpage.com
Admission: No entry fee.
Quarterly NPPA student clip contest features four categories. They are: News, Sports, Feature Single and Multiple Picture Story. Points are awarded as in the pro divisions with an annual Student Photographer of the Year award.
Limit of 12 entries per quarter.
Quarterly
Please read How to submit NPPA clips.

December 16, 2008
NPPA video/multimedia clip judging period
Online judging
Web: www.nppa.org
Admission: Must be an NPPA member to judge.
Previous month's video, audio slideshows and multimedia projects are presented for NPPA members to judge. Members are encouraged to vote for the best work in each category. Judging continues until the end of the month.

December 31, 2008
(postmarked)
Pulitzer Prize: Drama deadline
The Pulitzer Prize Office, 709 Journalism, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027
Phone: 212 854-3841
Web: www.pulitzer.org
Admission: $50 entry fee per piece.
Annual.

Pulitzer Prize winner interviews

Todd Heisler of The Rocky Mountain News is the 2006 Pulitzer Prize winner for Feature Photography. Please read his biography and interview Parts A, B and C.

Michael Ainsworth of The Dallas Morning News is a 2006 Pulitzer Prize winner for Breaking News Photography. Please read his biography and interview Parts A and B.

David Leeson of The Dallas Morning News is a 2004 Pulitzer Prize winner for Breaking News Photography. Please read his biography and interview Parts A and B.

Enough for now,
 

Todd Heisler interview Part C

Please read Todd Heisler's brief biography as well as Part A and B of this interview.

From readers:
Bryon Houlgrave asks:
Could you talk about your own emotions as you covered these events? How did these instances affect you, and did your emotions impact the way you approached a photo?

It was just an incredibly emotional journey, and we got really close. I think everybody out there has covered funerals and things like that, and we got really close to it. There are moments when I couldn't make a photo. Just because it was too personal, or I was fighting back my own tears. Some, I just couldn't do, and it really hurt.

At the end of the day, when you're sitting by yourself, it comes back and hits you again.

There's a lot of things. There's the sheer emotion of it. There's guilt, whether it's warranted or not. You really think about your role as a photojournalist.

I feel like with the response we got from the family and other people - the way we handled it, I think it worked out.

The more you do it, the harder it becomes. Back to Major Beck and the things that we learned from him. He has the same people on the honor guard doing funeral after funeral. He said it shouldn't get any easier. If it does, he'll take them off the duty because it shouldn't get easier.

That was something that I thought about through this whole thing. It shouldn't get easier. At first, you think there's something wrong with you because the more you do it, the harder it gets. But then I realized that's a good thing. There were some situations where I just couldn't… especially when I knew I'd have to go back out and work with another funeral and another family. I'd get sick to my stomach, because I knew I'd have to go through that all over again.

So, anytime I have another situation like that, I feel the same way.

How were you dressed?

I wore a suit.

We went to South Dakota to do a ceremony at a high school basketball game. Well, then I would just wear jeans - how everybody else is dressed. But if it was a funeral, or I went to the airport, I would wear a suit.

Was the American Indian funeral part of this series?

That came afterward. I think all things are connected and that was the same honor guard that we had worked with. This was a couple of months after "Final Salute." They told us that they were going to go to this reservation and said, "You guys should really do this story."

We talked to the family, which was just incredibly open. So we did that.

It was different than "Final Salute" in some ways, but really it's just a continuation. It was still like being in that same place.

I think the parents were really wise to tell the story. They wanted to see the pictures. That helped. There were some ceremonies I couldn't do, but even some people from other towns in that area that knew I was there, they were kind of surprized that the elders would let me take pictures. But, they were very welcoming.

It was unbelievable. It was a high honor just to be welcomed there to witness that and to see that ceremony. It was like three days straight. We slept in the car. Slept a couple of hours at a time. Jim, the writer, got pneumonia after it. We ate balogna sandwiches and fry bread all weekend.

It was a spiritual experience to say the least.

How dressed?

I just wore jeans and very casual. Whenever I'd do those, I'd pack a suit and a tie and everything. We showed up at the funeral home the first day to drive to the reservation. When I showed up, everyone was wearing jeans and stuff, so I just take the cue from everybody else there.

That is a situation where you could have been overdressed. We stand out anyway because everybody there is Native American and then there's two white guys there. But, I think wearing a suit would have stood out even more.

But, I'd rather be overdressed for anything else.

How important is it to follow a code of ethics, such as what's provided by the National Press Photographer's Association.

There's just no question. It's not even a question of how important it is. It's just so crucial, especially now that we have some sort of code and to follow it.

That airplane photo from "Final Salute," I still get e-mails from people who think it's fake. They don't believe that all the faces are in the windows. They think it's Photoshop. I've seen blogs where people go on and on about it. That's a direct result of the public's lack of trust in what we do.

I think the photojournalism community is pretty damn good in holding to those standards. So, I don't know where that comes from.

There's definitely a lack of trust in the public's eyes because they understand technology now. They might have Photoshop or they use digital cameras. There are images where people just don't want to believe that it's real.

We have a pretty big responsibility to keep to that. The rest of the [ethics] too.

As technology gets better and more and more people are exposed to images from everywhere. We really have to hold to that standard. We all have our own standards, but something has to be written down.

Steve Newman asks:
How did you start your career as a photojournalist and what was your first profesional assignment?

I started my career as a photojournalist by working at the college newspaper [at] Illinois State - The Daily Vidette. I was an art major. I was always interested in photography, but I didn't know what to do with it.

Later in my college career, I discovered the newspaper and photojournalism and fell in love with it. But I didn't have the strict background that you might have from Western [Kentucky] or OU or Missouri.

I did an intership there in town in Wilmington. After that was over, I had to get out and find a job. After a few months of searching, I took a job at a small weekly in suburban Chicago and just worked my way up really slowly.

I worked at the weekly for less than a year and got to know people within the community and Chicago and started trying to get help with my work. I got a job at another paper that was a little better. I tried to build on what I had done at the previous paper, but also what I couldn't do - things that I really wanted to do, but wasn't able to do because of time.

From there, I moved to another group of weekly - I worked at a lot of weeklies. A group paper called Sun Publications, they're owned by Copley. That was the place where I felt like I really took off and found my vision. Again, I could build on the things that I couldn't do at the previous papers. The things that I knew I could improve on or do better, but I knew I could do better.

What was my first assignment?

I won't [include] the internship because I wasn't technically a professional out on my own, but my first assignment at my first newspaper job, they handed me three rolls of film and they told me to go out that day and find six feature photos.

They told me to go cruise and find six enterprise pictures. (laughs)

My heart just sank. I though, "Oh my God." The place where I was interning, people would drive around all day just to get one good one. Now they want me to go get six. What am I going to do. And I had three rolls of film.

Needless to say, I've come a long way. (laughs)

Could you do it today?

Six feature photos on three rolls of film? Yea I could. Maybe, I don't know. That's a good challenge. I bet I could. It depends on how many hours you gave me to do it. Yea, I could do that. That would be a great challenge. I like to say that I could do it. (laughs)

Some successful photojournalist say early in their career they hope to change the world with their images and then later in life they feel unfulfilled because little has changed. Do you feel fulfilled with your work?

Yes.

I think everyone [who] gets into this thinks they can change the world. You look at all these great photographs from the past and think, "I would like to do that." Then reality sets in. I was working my way up very slowly working for small papers.

I never thought I'd get to make change on a really grand level. I put myself into the little things. Try to make change in the very small ways that I could in my community - as little as it may be.

As I got more mature in my career and done some bigger projects, I've actually been more optimistic about the possiblity of change - inspiring people to look at things differently.

Right now, after last year and the response that I've gotten to my project, I believe in it more now than I ever have.

I've been motivated beyond what I ever thought I was capable of. That goes back to what I was saying about the small things. You never know what kind of impact you can have. So any assignment you do or anywhere you do it has the potential to have a great impact.

Pro advice:
How important is competition in the industry?

I think it's important to have them. I think there are many out there that keep the bar high. That's what they should be doing to try to elevate what we do and recognize what has been done, but try to raise the bar. Recognize the greatest - at least what we hope is the greatest - work of what's being entered.

I think they're very important. They can help young photographers advance in their careers. It helps them get noticed. But at the same time, that's not everything. You can't do this job to win contests. If you do, I think your heart's not in the right place and I think people will notice.

When we did this story, we didn't do it to win awards. We really became immersed in the subject and immersed in the lives of the people we were covering. When you get that close, you can't think about it. You can't think about awards. You shouldn't.

Then, when we got done, we saw how big it was - it was almost surprizing how many awards it has received. That wasn't the motivation.

You have to look at contests for what they are.

One of my mentors, Vince Musi, was judging POY one year. They had just announced Photographer of the Year. He said these great words - and I hope they don't come off as off-putting or synical, but he said, This person is not the best photographer in the world. So, if you didn't win, that doesn't mean you're not a great photographer. This person just happens to have - at this particular moment - the best body of work among all the other portfolios that were next to it.

I think it was a reality check. This is great work. It deserves to be recognized, but just remember what it is and what it means. I thought those were great words.

Any contest, three judges may pick three completely different portfolios. You have to remember that. It's great when you win, but if you don't remember that's not the sole purpose of why we do what we do.

Entering the Pulitzer competition is a daunting undertaking. Did you prepare the entries for all these competitions or did you get some help?

I had help. We have an imager, a guy who tones pictures, we have an imaging staff. One of our imagers helped me tone the images for the prints. Part of the reason he's so good, the other reason is I'm a little color blind and need a little help in color correction. (laughs)

You definitely need a couple of people to help you put it together. First of all you have to have a decent looking book with good presentation. Your pages have to look good. Your prints have to look good. They should be mounted well.

You have to make sure all your captions are accurate the way that they were. You might be retyping them. Since it's a journalism award, you don't want to have typos in there.

I think the most important part of it is the editing and how you put it together. For us, I think that was the most time consuming: trying to get the edit to something we could all agree on.

We had about three or four of us. Janet Reeves, our director, myself and a couple of other photo editors, we'd go back and forth on exactly how we wanted to edit it for pacing and whatnot. Then we'd have a word person come in and look at the edit to [look for flaws] they notice that we may have missed.

Since it's a print portfolio, you edit it differently than for POY. [For POY] you're doing slides and somebody's sitting in a room, where something's projected and they're not necessarily getting the captions. It's a different experience. So, you have to think about it differently. This is a book that somebody's paging through.

You have to decide one picture per page, or are you going to put two. How is this going to flow? How are you going to tell your whole story in 20 pictures? You have to look at it differently. It's a different animal than other contests.

You enter all the pages because you have to prove it was published. [In addition to PDF proofs] we threw clips in the back, just so they could see it if they wanted to look at the sections. Especially with this one because people who may have known about it may not have gotten to see it in a printed piece. We did PDFs mounted in the back of the book. They'd get a rough idea of how the pages were laid out.

Scrambled the order?

Yea.

There were some things that we had done daily stories on that weren't in the actual section in the end. Something that had run in April. It fit in differently. We didn't scramble the order too much. We followed the story line pretty close to how it was printed.

For Feature Photography, it's a body of work from a story. It's not Breaking News. It's not one event.

What keeps you motivated as a PJ?

One is just being out there. Being out on the streets, meeting people, making images, doing what I do. That's what keeps me motivated. We can get really caught up in contests and our own work and how we think it's going. It can be a selfish endeavor.

When you get back out there, you get on the street, and you cover a story that means something to you or you witness something that you didn't think you were going to witness. Just by chance you pull an assignment that you don't think will be much, and then you get out there it just makes your whole day. Not even because of the pictures, but because of the experience. That's the fun of it. Being around people and documenting life.

Also what motivates me is great photographers. I try to interact with friends whose work I really respect and they're really inspiring. If I'm having a bad day or feeling lost, I call them and I look at their pictures. I ask them to look at mine. It keeps me going. It helps me look at things a different way.

That's what's so great about the Internet now. When I was coming out of school, we didn't have the Internet. It wasn't very readily available, so I couldn't just go look at images. I would go to the library a couple of times a week and get out a couple of books that really kept me going. I'd look at photo books.

Now, there's so much photography on the Web. So many different types of photography. Just get out there and find something you haven't seen before. Look at paintings. Try to be inspired from a lot of different places. Ultimately, that will help your work.

Does the Internet "water down" our visual literacy compared to books?

Yea, it's been watered down. It's been accelerated. It might cancel itself out because earlier I think it was harder to find good work. Where I went to college in central Illinois it's not like they had an abundance of photo books like the ICP would have in New York. So you weren't exposed to it as much good work as somebody else might be.

Now with the Internet, there's so much more out there, but there's so much more you have to weed through to find what really speaks to you. I feel like it's worth it for what you might be giving up in simplicity, but I think it's worth it because there's so much more out there to see.

Newspapers are G or PG while many books are seriously R rated.

I never thought of it that way. I don't know. I'll have to go look.

Because [the Internet] is such a public environment, you have to be concerned about what you put out there. I don't know. I never thought about that. I'll have to get back to you on that one.

What do you see in the future for news PJs?

Oh boy, that is the question. I think there's always going to be a need for good photojournalists. When I was coming out of school, 12 years ago, people were saying, "Newspapers are going away. You're not going to have a job." Look, we're still doing it. Look after 9/11, some of the most memorable images you saw were still images.

I think there's always going to be a need for it. The venue's going to change. Every paper now is talking about the Web. Everybody is talking about video. Sound is a new element. I can't tell you where I think it's going to go, but it's going to go where we take it.

Do we want to sit back and let technology dictate where the industry goes? Or, do we want to embrace it and we dictate where our industry is going to go. Instead of letting some people who might not know anything about journalism try to dictate what our job is going to be, I think we have to embrace the technology and create our own future.

With unlimited Web space, do you see great photo essays of the golden years returning?

Sure. Yea. Why not? You have unlimited space. Why can't it come back like that? I don't see why it can't.

I try to be pretty optimistic about it, and I try not to dwell too much on it. I don't want to take a synical view on it because I feel it's counterproductive. But I don't see why it can't come back like that. There is so much great work being done on the Web. Look at newspapers and see what people are doing, but you look deeper and there's just a lot of great work out there.

What is the importance of photo stories to new photojournalists?

There are a lot of different ways to tell a story. I would say telling a picture story, that's the most important thing that we do and that we should be doing. We don't always get to do it the way we'd like to in the newspaper, but that is the most important skill that a photographer should learn.

Even with single images - the images that come from stories of really getting into a subject and spending time on it - spending time getting into people's lives, that's where the deeper images come from. Whether it's a single image or a whole story, that's where all the great work that you see comes from. It comes from stories. It comes from spending time.

I think - especially for younger photographers - that's something that they should aspire to. I mean if somebody is interested in sports, then they should go do sports. But some of the greatest sports photography goes deeper off the field and beyond that. That's the most important part of what we do.

It shows passion for a subject. That's when it really comes through - somebody's passion - because they're committing to something. It's not just a quick thing. That's not to say beautiful, powerful images can't come from quick moments and quick stories.

If I'm looking at somebody's work, you can really see where their passions lie by their stories. That's what they really want to commit their time to and their energy to. That's what we should be doing.

Enough for now,
 

Todd Heisler interview Part B

Please read Todd Heisler's brief biography as well as Part A of this interview.

Pulitzer story:
Please talk about the importance of photojournalists also being effective writers.

Every photojournalist should try to write stories and try to be, at least, a decent writer. It makes you a better photojournalist. It makes you a better photographer and a better journalist. It makes you more astute. It makes you more observant. It makes you listen. I've found that pulling out the camera and listening can really help your photography. It can help get you toward better images because you become more in tune with the subject and what the story is. That helps me especially in that situation.

It's a different way of thinking. You're using a different part of your brain, and it makes you a sharper journalist. It makes you look at facts. Obviously your captions are important, but [writing] makes you sharper.

Do you collect quotes?

Sometimes. It depends on the project. The paper really encourages us to do that and I try to do that as often as I can especially with a project. That just goes back to what I was saying earlier, collecting quotes and collecting information obviously makes you a better journalist and photographers have to be good journalists. In an abstract way, it helps your photography.

For "Final Salute" it's a lot different because Jim and I worked very closely through the whole thing. At the end of the day, I would show him images and he would read me quotes. That would keep us on track. It was a good way to mark where we were in the story, what we were accomplishing and what the story was.

Did it sharpen the story?

Yea. In the end it did. In the middle it was pretty overwhelming. It was just so much that we were seeing and hearing. It can be pretty overwhelming. But, it definitely helped.

When we finally put the story together and we did the captions, Jim had all these amazing quotes that elevated the picture.

It made me understand the situation. It made me remember the situation a lot better too. The one about the Burnses opening the boxes is just such a beautiful quote. Where Bob Burns says, "I just don't want to hurt." But, he doesn't want to forget.

They just guided us through the story while we were telling it.

Please talk about the airplane scene.

That photograph came from a quote. I had photographed that scene a couple of different times. The first time, from the angle I had, I couldn't capture the faces. I just couldn't see it very well. But that quote drove me toward that photograph. When he refers to the people in the windows and it's something that he had seen many times. That made me aware to look for something if I was ever in that situation again.

The second time I was in the situation, the people weren't on the plane. So you couldn't see it, but the third time obviously you could see it very well. I don't think I could have missed it, but because it's such an emotional situation, there's a good chance I could have missed it if I didn't have that quote in my head. And to know for the story how significant the people looking out of the plane is to the story.

Please talk about your collaboration efforts with Jim Sheeler and Bill Johnson.

I like working with somebody because I like to share my ideas, and I like to know what their ideas are. Having somebody else there who can be another set of eyes helps tremendously.

I've known photographers in the past who hate it when reporters will tell them about pictures. They're not always good ideas. They say, "You should come over here and look at that."

I like to be open to that because you're a team and you have somebody that might guide you to something. We're very focused on something and we're waiting on something that might not be panning out and we could be missing something very significant.

Working with a writer, they're looking at things differently. They have a totally different way of looking at things. That can help guide you to better photographs.

Some reporters are better than others at that. Working with Jim was always great because he works like a photojournalist. He's very observant and he listens and he steps back. When he needs to sit down and do an interview, he doesn't do it until the situation is overwith. He doesn't stop people in the middle of a situation.

A lot of photographers see a situation unfolding and a reporter just isn't astute enough to see that something's really happening and they'll interrupt it. But Jim, he writes scenes. He writes what he sees. He can see that. With him especially, he could guide me toward situations that I might have missed through his reporting.

And I helped him too. I would tell him things that I heard. Maybe it something that wasn't a direct quote, but it was something that I could tell him, "Maybe you want to talk to them about this." Or, "When you weren't here, they did this." When he wrote the story, he went back and looked at all my images so he could remember what things looked like.

Bill is obviously a different reporter than Jim. At the same time, Bill was great to work with in that you have a wing man. (laughs)

You have somebody by your side. There were a lot of mornings where we woke up and had nothing to do, and he would say, "What do you want to do?" I would throw out ideas, and he would say, "Great. Let's do it." Bill welcomes great ideas.

I think we have a responsibility as photojournalists to keep our end. To be journalists and contribute ideas - what we see and what we know about subjects because we have to be there. Reporters don't always have to be there.

What's so great about Jim is that he wanted to see it. He didn't just want to hear about it, he wanted to see it. I have a huge amount of respect for that.

Please talk about "quiet" images.

When I started - I think with a lot of photographers starting out - you're taught to look for "the moment." You go for the obvious moments like peak action or peak emotion - a person with their mouth open is surprise or whatever. I found that there's more to life than just peak moments - especially this story.

To witness these scenes, they're very quiet and slow and I wanted to capture that. I've always been drawn to quiet images because I like to look for the moments-between-the-moments and the things that people would overlook. I think there's significance there as well. They're all moments in time.

This story especially, that's what it felt like. It wasn't all just total screaming and anguish and tears. It was a lot of very slow, very quiet times. A lot of times it was people just sitting. The way the Marines move when they're performing these ceremonies, they're very slow and methodic, and I wanted to photograph it that way.

Do you rely on light for these kinds of images?

Light definitely. I'm really passionate about light. In really, really low light - there were a lot of images shot in very low light, but I really try to capture the light that's there and work with what's there. It's harder to make it work, but using a strobe in the story was not an option.

But the payoff really created the mood that you see within this piece.

It was all hand-held. I probably should have used a monopod in some of these situations, but I didn't want to draw anymore attention to myself. I didn't want to move. I didn't want to be slowed down and have cumbersome equipment. I felt like a monopod would be one more thing to get in the way and slow me down.

I didn't want to be banging around. Like the night when I shot the airplane photos, we rode in the limousine with Katherine and her friends to the airport. It was moving in that situation. [I was] riding in the car with somebody, getting out and trying to move a lot slower and quieter. I didn't want to be dragged down by lots of equipment.

Camera noise?

[Digital cameras are] great cameras for the image quality - being able to shoot 1600 and the image stabilizers definitely help, but the scene when Katherine opens the casket... [the noise] didn't bother her. She was just so immersed in the moment. Major Beck brought it to my attention later on about how loud my cameras were. I think it really bothered him.

I understand Major Beck had a significant influence on your story. Please talk about Major Beck's involvement in the story.

For the story and the written part, he's the one who could really articulate this situation, this story better than anybody. It really affected him on such a profound level. He wanted the story to be told and access was because of him. He would introduce us to families.

He was also our guide in this - like our emotional guide. He showed us all these minute things that were happening - all the emotional things that he had seen and that we were seeing. There are things that you can miss, like the airplane photo. He really guided us through a lot of situations.

It was pretty risky for him to open this up for us.

We talked about "perception." He might perceive a scene one way and Jim might perceive it another and I could perceive it another way. Somewhere in the middle, those perceptions overlap and that would be the truest representation of what we were seeing.

He was very protective over the families. He says at one point in the story that by notifying these families, he feels like he's causing them this pain. So he was very protective of their grief and how they would be represented and that we were going to be sensitive to that. In a lot of ways, he showed us what the story was all about.

After nearly being killed in Iraq did the dynamics of your relationship with Major Beck change?

He knew [about the IED] because he saw it in the paper the day after it happened. We never talked about it in specifics, but I think it showed how dedicated I was to telling this story. It changed. I don't know if part of that was because of time - that we kept spending more time together. I think it drew us closer in many ways because he knew that I was gaining a deeper understanding of all this.

We never really talked about it too specifically. Just the fact that I had been through that, I think he really respected that.

Please talk about "being a human first" and how it applies to your personal and professional ethics.

It's about what my presence and my taking images - especially in times like this when [it's painful for] people - that made me look at how much of this do I need to be photographing. I really tried to get what I needed to get and then fall back a little bit because I didn't want to make the pain any worse. This story made me so much more cognizant of what I see in front of me and try to gage what people are feeling and when it's time to put the camera down and listen or just leave.

Some cultures believe that taking somebody's photographs is taking their soul. I don't believe that, but I believe a really great photograph captures somebody's soul. That's very personal to them. That's a gift. They're giving. They're exposing themselves on such a deep level. That's where responsibility comes in - of trying to be true to them and be sensitive of how they're represented.

You have to be a journalist and you don't want to hold back. You can't sacrifice your journalistic integrity, but you can still be sensitive to people and still get the message across from the images.

If you don't care, people know.

Was Katherine Cathey with you when you were announced as the Pulitzer Prize winner?

She came after. We told them the weekend before that we were finalists. We decided, if we do win, we wanted to have them to the newsroom. John Temple - anytime anything significant happens - he always likes to have a meeting in the afternoon when the day shift and the night shift overlap. We told them we wanted to have them in the newsroom with us when we had this recognition. It's a ceremony. We were going to have champagne and whatnot. So we wanted to have Katherine there.

Major Beck was there. Terry Cooper, her son was the first service member killed in Iraq from Colorado in the Iraq War. Jim Sheeler - that was the first story he had done on the Iraq War - so they had become very close and her story had really affected Jim. That's kind of where "Final Salute" came from. It came from all these stories. So we wanted them to be there to know that they're a part of it. In a way it's their's too.

Did they take pride as well?

They did. They did. We had been in touch and we followed up when Katherine had her baby and she really liked the story and felt that it was accurate and all the other families really liked it. We knew that they were proud of this story, but I still felt awkward winning an award for this.

I'm very honored, but it still feels a little awkward and I wondered how they would feel about it. They all said really amazing things about us winning. Katherine said she felt that we really deserved it. [She said], "These two awards couldn't have been given to anybody other than these two guys." That really meant a lot to know she felt proud of it.

Terry Cooper said similar things and that this was another memorial to her son. That really meant a lot.

We had champagne and stuff, but we didn't go nuts with it. We wanted it to keep a certain level of respect to what the story was. It was tradition and we wanted to have a toast. That's what we did.

Combat:
An IED hit the Humvee with you in it. Did you take any extra precautions in the vehicle?

It's funny. In hindsight I found out that we were in the absolute worst place to be. Being in the vehicle, I was in the best place. I was behind the driver. That's the safest place to be. It was a brand new, up-armored Humvee, which obviously, I can attest: they work. (laughs)

What I found out was there are a lot of things to know. I found out we were the first patrol of the morning, which is the worst possible patrol. That's when all the IEDs go off right at dawn. We were the second vehicle, which is the worst vehicle to be in. We were also one Humvee in a convoy of a Bradley, a Humvee and a Bradley. They're going to go for the Humvee. Generally, they're not going to go for the Bradley unless it's something really big that they have.

So, the deck was stacked against us, but we didn't know till afterward.

But, driving around in a Bradley all day, you don't get to see much. You're stuck in the back of an armored vehicle and you can't see anything. I've made cool pictures of the guy riding in the back of the Bradley. But after 15 hours, how much can you send?

I learned from that. I also learned how to react after it happens from asking and really paying attention when people talk about convoy security and what happens if there's an attack. You really need to know what to do. You don't just want to be sitting there. When everybody's running, you need to know.

So, I would say to somebody, "Ask questions." Ask what to do. I don't think you want to go into a situation like that blindly with no knowledge of what you're getting into.

Please talk about shooting under those conditions.

The photography part of it - the technical part of it - in a way, that didn't even exist. That should be something that happens on instinct. The first couple of frames I took, I didn't even remember to focus the camera because I was so jarred after it.

Your safety is the most important thing and then trying to get at the images to document something because that's the only reason you're there. The only reason you're there is to make pictures and tell this story. If you can't do that - if you're not going to do that - then you just risked your life for nothing.

That was definitely a motivating factor. The adrenaline pushes you to do the work, but the actual photography aspect is instinct from knowing it, from doing it for so long.

Part of that was necessity too. We were pretty far from anybody. I was going to stay with the guys that were in the vehicle and what they were doing. I wanted to be where they were. You really don't want to go running down the road after that.

I found out later that I broke my finger, but I really couldn't tell at that point. After that happens, you check yourself out, see if you're bleeding. You have no idea. Initially, you're thinking worst case scenario. Then, if you're able to get up and run, you're thinking, "Well, I don't know if something's wrong with me." You're just on adrenaline overload at that point.

What special precautions and/or equipment do you take when you're going to a combat area?

You need to get a good flak vest. You can get a decent one now - just like the military uses - I think those are probably $1,000, maybe a little more. You want to get a good flak vest, but one light enough that you can move around in and be able to run in if you have to. You want to get the right kind of body armor that's geared toward what type of rounds you'll be seeing - I think it's Type 3 or better [with a heart plate].

They improve [body armor over time] and I don't want to send somebody in the wrong direction. [Get a] decent Kevlar [helmet] and for safety, that's key.

Equipment-wise, I don't want to bring too much equipment. Two bodies, I like to have a back up body just to leave in a backpack in case something goes down. [Take] minimal lenses, like a zoom on each camera - a wide zoom and a telephoto zoom and a converter. You're climbing in and out of vehicles so much that you want to be able to move and not get snagged on anything.

Laptop. We used a satellite-modem. That's great. I could put everything I needed in a backpack and actually carry it. If I had to carry it quickly, it wasn't too cumbersome.

Any kind of Sat phone/cell phone and anything you can back up. If you bring a power inverter, bring two. That's what's great about traveling with a reporter. I could stick him with a bunch of stuff. (laughs)

I would bring an inverter. He would bring an inverter. I would bring extra cables for everything - extra cords. We both used Macs. Instead of having a Mac and a PC, we both used [Macs] in case mine got crunched or something, I could use his.

A small, external hard drive so you can back-up your images.

Minimal clothes like a good pair of boots and a back-up pair. We were out once where we were walking up to our knees in like sewer water, and I had my best pair of boots on and didn't have a decent pair as a back-up.

Some people are different. I like to carry everything with me. If I [must] move from one vehicle to another, or I have to go, I like to be able to put everything in two backpacks, so if I have to carry it all - into like a helicopter - I like to be able to carry everything with me. I don't want to rely on somebody to carry my gear.

Some people, like Rick Loomis, he was telling me he brings almost no clothes: two pairs of pants and two shirts and then a lot of socks and underwear. He travels really light.

The first time I ever did it, I called Loomis and asked him, "What do I do?" What I say to somebody is if you have a question, call somebody you know has been there. Things change. Everywhere you go, try to call somebody who's been there recently and ask them what's different.

What ethical considerations do you keep in mind while shooting in combat zones (civilians and military)?

I've never been in a situation where I've needed to make too many judgment calls. I haven't been around them when they made a mistake. Like the photos that Chris Hondros made where they shot up a family at a check point. I've never had to make those calls. You don't know what you're going to do until you're faced with it.

I've had some situations where I've had a commander - actually, we had a very good relationship - who asked me - when we got hit by an IED - he asked me not to mention that a certain person was there. I told him, "I can't hold back. You asked me to tell the truth for better or worse and now you're asking me not to tell the truth, and I can't do that."

We actually worked it out and he understood. I had to make the case. I said, "Look, I'm going to file these pictures. I can't not do that."

I think the ground rules are pretty fair. I've been pretty lucky where I've never been faced with anything where anybody told me to not make photographs or anything like that.

What's your line?

I've had this conversation with people - I was never faced with it - but I told them, "I'm here to do a job and if something goes down, I have to document it." You have to think about what you're documenting. For instance, somebody asked me, "Well, if my guys are lying down on the ground bleeding all over the place, are you going to help or are you going to shoot photos?"

My line is, if I'm the last person standing between somebody's - and I don't care if it's an Iraqi or an American - life and death... because I helped or because I didn't help, somebody would die. Then, I feel like I have an obligation to help. But if there's help, everyone is being attended to and my presence does not change that, then I have to do my job.

I've never been faced with that. I think it's gray. I've talked to a lot of photographers who had to make split-second decisions, and they've helped. As a human being, you have to think about that. What's harder to live with? The fact that you let somebody die and you got a photo or you missed a photo and you saved somebody's life. I'd rather live with saving somebody's life.

Consider Leeson's treatment of dead civilians.

I think the way David made those photographs was outstanding. I'm going to sing his praises. I've never met him, but everything that I've heard him say about how he worked over there, I'd agree with totally.

What's the point of showing certain things? What's it going to do? There's a way people see the impact of war. There's a way people can still see it, but you want people to understand that impact. If you're editors aren't going to be able to use it, people aren't going to see it. What's the point?

Also, it's about dignity too. That's what he's talking about the dignity of showing somebody's face.

I would follow the steps something similar to how he handled it. Fortunately, I haven't been faced with that. I don't care who it is or if it's someone I've never met before or who they are, they're human beings.

With all that being said, I'm not a war photographer. So, I don't think I'm an authority on things like that.

I wouldn't consider myself a war photographer. That's not the bulk of what I do. I've done a little bit of it, but I wouldn't want to take that title. There are so many people that are so dedicated to it and do it so well. I think they'd be better fit to answer those questions.

Enough for now,

Please see Part C of this interview.