NPPA Presents Annual Top Honors & Recognition Awards
DURHAM, NC (June 6, 2010) – The National Press Photographers Association will present the organization's top honors and awards for the year during the Sprague Awards Dinner on Saturday at the conclusion of Convergence '10 at the Francis Marion Hotel in Charleston, SC, and winners this year include industry leaders who are changing the face of photojournalism in the new era of multimedia, as well as educators who are preparing college students for journalism's constantly-changing future.
The winner of NPPA's highest honor, the Joseph A. Sprague Memorial Award, this year is Bill Luster of the Louisville Courier-Journal, an NPPA past president and a tireless volunteer who has served the organization for decades in leadership and committee roles. (See full story on Luster's award here).
J. Bruce Baumann, who is the retired editor of the Courier & Press in Evansville, IN, who now teaches photojournalism at Southern Illinois University, is the winner of this year's Clifton C. Edom Award. The award recognizes an individual in the tradition of Cliff Edom to inspire and motivate members of the photojournalism community to reach new heights. Edom taught at the University of Missouri for 29 years, founded the Missouri Photo Workshop six decades ago, and is credited with coining the term "photo-journalism."
Baumann was NPPA's Region 4 Photographer of the Year in 1968 and 1969 while shooting for the Courier & Press, and in 1970 while working for the Grand Rapids Press in Michigan. He received NPPA's highest honor, the Joseph A. Sprague Award, in 1992, an NPPA's President's Award in 1973, the John Durniak Mentor Award in 2007, and the Jim Gordon Editor of the Year Award in 2005. He started his journalism career of more than 46 years as a sports intern at the Evansville Courier while still a student at Central High School, and he went on to work at daily newspapers in Dubuque, IA; Grand Rapids, MI; Mansfield, OH; San Jose, CA; Pittsburgh, PA; and Monterey, CA. He also worked as a picture editor, designer, and photographer at National Geographic magazine, and he's a past president of the Indiana News Photographers Association.
Bruce Strong, an associate professor in the Department of Visual and Interactive Communications at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communication at Syracuse University, who has shot assignments as a photojournalist in more than 50 countries, is the winner of this year's Robert F. Garland Educator Award for his outstanding service as an educator. Strong is both respected and loved by his students. One former student wrote in his nomination, "Bruce is a life changer." The Garland award is named after a picture editor and war correspondent for the Saturday Evening Post who joined Graflex Inc. as a technical representative to the press after World War II.
Michelle McLoughlin, who has chaired the Northern Short Course and has served on NPPA's board of directors, volunteering her time giving years of support to NPPA, is the winner of this year's Joseph Costa Award. The Costa Award, established in 1954, is given to an individual for their outstanding initiative, leadership and service in advancing the goals of NPPA in the tradition of Joseph Costa, the founder of NPPA, its first president and chairman of the board. Costa died in 1988.
Shawn Montano, of KWGN-TV and KDVR-TV in Denver, is the winner of this year's Jim Gordon Editor of the Year Award. The Gordon Award is given to "the editor of an outstanding newspaper, magazine, video, movie, Web site, book, or other publication or broadcast that supports and promotes strong photojournalism, and the best use of photography, and whose individual dedication and efforts have moved photojournalism's standards forward while also advancing the best interests of all photographers." Montano is being recognized for "his continuing excellence and raising the standard in his professional work, his teaching, his volunteering with NPPA, and for producing the highly-educational Edit Foundry blog."
Colin Mulvany, of the Spokesman-Review in Spokane, WA, and Brian Immel are each the winners this year of a John Durniak Mentor Citation for their efforts producing NPPA's Multimedia Contest and the Web site FindingTheFrame.com, which helps visual journalists develop their craft. The honor is awarded to an individual who has served as an outstanding mentor, either to a specific individual or to photojournalism in general. Durniak was executive editor of Popular Photography magazine, picture editor at Time magazine and The New York Times, and managing editor of Look, himself an enthusiastic mentor who nurtured some of the most prominent photojournalists of the 20th Century. Durniak died in 1997.
Kevin Martin, NPPA's Region 8 chair, is the winner of this year's Samuel Mellor Award. he citation honors the memory of NPPA's second national treasurer (1948-1950), who set an example of devotion to NPPA ideals. The award is given to the regional associate director judged most outstanding in the performance of his or her duties. Mellor was a photographer for the New York Post until his death in 1954. Martin is being recognized for "going well beyond the role of Regional Chair to serve on the NPPA executive committee and for starting The Visual Student Blog."
Greg Anderson, a senior software developer for The Seattle times, is being honored with NPPA's J. Winton Lemen Award for developing and launching NPPA's iPad and iPhone App, and for his exceptional efforts to have NPPA's iPad App finished and in the online Apple store days before Apple launched the popular iPad. As a result, NPPA's iPad App was in the top five photography applications on the device when it was released for worldwide sale. Lemen was a charter member of NPPA in 1946. In 1952, after a distinguished career as a news photographer at The Rocky Mountain News, Pittsburgh Press, and Buffalo Times, Lemen established the photo press markets division of the Eastman Kodak Co. and served as the firm's liaison with the nation's news photographers.
Damon Kiesow, who for many years has been an organizer and leader of NPPA's Northern Short Course, is being honored with this year's Morris Berman Citation for his leadership and support of that event, and for his leadership in design improvements in NPPA's Web site. The Berman Citation is given to an individual for special contributions advancing the interests of photojournalism.
Photojournalist Anthony Bolante, known to many who have proudly served with him in Afghanistan as Lt. Col. Anthony Bolante of the Washington National Guard, is being honored this year with NPPA's Kenneth P. McLaughlin Award of Merit. Following the fatal mid-air crash of two news helicopters over downtown Phoenix in July 2007, NPPA asked Bolante for assistance to work with the National Transportation Safety Board and other organizations to help establish national safety standards for news helicopter safety. The McLaughlin Award is given to those rendering continuing outstanding service in the interest of news photography, whether or not they are members of the profession. McLaughlin was the third president of NPPA and a photographer for the San Francisco Chronicle until his death in 1952.
Scott Jensen of KING5-TV in Seattle is being honored with an NPPA Special Citation for his leadership role in keeping NPPA's Quarterly Video Contest "fresh and vibrant." And NPPA past president Alicia Wagner Calzada, chair of NPPA's Advocacy Committee, is also being honored with a Citation for "her inspired leadership and invaluable perspective on photojournalism, NPPA, and the law." Special Citations are awarded to an individual or organization for making significant contributions that advance the interests of photojournalsim.
Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Kim Komenich, who now teaches multimedia photojournalism at San Jose State University following his career at the San Francisco Chronicle, is being recognized with NPPA's Humanitarian Award for thwarting a bank robbery attempt in April and preventing harm to bank employees by holding the suspected robber "in a bear hug" until police arrived. NPPA's Humanitarian Award is presented to an individual for playing a key role in the saving of lives or in rescue situations.
The winner of this year's Outstanding NPPA Student Chapter is the University of Texas at Austin's vibrant new chapter, and the Outstanding Publication Award this year goes to Region 2's e-newsletter.
NPPA's annual awards and honors are determined by nominations made to a committee that's chaired each year by the organization's most recent past president. This year's honors and awards were chaired by past president Tony Overman.
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