NPPA member Pete Souza was President Ronald Reagan’s photographer during the Gipper’s second term. He’s photographed stories for National Geographic and LIFE magazine, and in the early 1980s he was a staff photojournalist for the Chicago Sun-Times. Today he’s the Chicago Tribune’s national photographer based in Washington, DC, and this year he’s been battling prostate cancer. Souza told News Photographer magazine today what he’s learned from the experience, information that we need to know for our own health.

By Pete Souza

WASHINGTON, DC - When the doctor told me earlier this year that I had cancer, all I could think to ask him was, “What should we do?”

At the time, I felt little emotion. My dad died of prostate cancer in 1999, and now I had it. I knew it was supposedly a slow-growing disease but also knew first-hand that not everyone survived it. Yet I soon discovered I didn’t know as much about prostate cancer as I thought I did.

Internalizing emotion for weeks, I researched the disease in depth, read about potential treatments, met with many doctors, informed family and friends about my cancer, and then finally made my decision on which treatment to use.

The emotion of having (or hopefully, having had) cancer is beginning to catch up with me as I reflect back on the past several months. I’ve learned so much, met so many great people, and received such great support from family, friends, and fellow patients.

Conversely, I look back and remember that I was also thoroughly confused at times trying to decide which treatment was best for me. Different doctors proposed completely contradictory advice. (“You should definitely have surgery, not radiation,” said one. “You should absolutely have radiation, not surgery,” said another.) I had the distinct impression that some doctors advised what was best for them, not for me.

In the end, I decided the best treatment for me was to have brachytherapy (radioactive seed implant) preceded by five weeks of external radiation. I chose this dual treatment for many reasons but mainly because I felt this offered me the best hope for staying alive indefinitely. Because each case of prostate cancer can be vastly different, it may not be the best option for everyone.

My treatment is now complete. The physical side effects continue, though very mildly. But sleep doesn’t come as easily. In the middle of the night, I lie awake wondering whether the treatment for my cancer – now in apparent remission – eradicated all the cancer cells. It’s not a sure thing; only time will tell.

I can’t erase the vision of my father drawing his final breath at home as he succumbed to a prostate cancer that had metastasized throughout his body resulting in a painful death. I don’t want to meet his fate.

It’s at times like these that you wonder what your purpose in life is. Photojournalism gave me a front-row seat to watching history unfold. I am forever grateful for the experiences I’ve had. But now I’ve also become more committed to championing other photojournalists whose work truly inspires me. And though many newspapers think they aren’t doing too well these days, there is no doubt that good photojournalism is alive and well.

Also, I feel an obligation to educate as many people as possible about prostate cancer because there is so much misleading information published in the mainstream media. Not only that – and this will sound arrogant – but I also believe I know more about prostate cancer than some family doctors. So, if you’re a man (or a man’s wife), read the following adapted version of the eMail I sent to friends and family.

Myth #1: “Few men die from prostate cancer.” 
In fact, prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in men. More than 30,000 died from it last year alone. The key factor to survival is to diagnose prostate cancer early enough before it has spread outside the prostate. If it’s metastasized in the bones or blood stream, the cancer can be treated but probably not cured; i.e., you will eventually die from it.

Myth #2: “Prostate cancer is an old man’s disease.”
Most cases of prostate cancer occur in men over 65. But I am certainly proof that it can occur much earlier. I was 49 when blood tests indicated that something was amiss. One doctor I know has several patients in their 30s with aggressive prostate cancer.

Myth #3: “I’m in good shape, eat healthy, don’t smoke, so I’ve got nothing to worry about.”
The truth is no one knows what causes prostate cancer. I’m in pretty good shape, I’ve never smoked, and I eat healthy, so it didn’t work for me. There seems to be a hereditary link, so if you have a father (like me) or brother who had prostate cancer, you’re much, much more likely to have it. African Americans also have prostate cancer at a much higher rate than white men. Asians have it at a much smaller rate but strangely enough, Asians in the U.S. have it at the same rate as everyone else. So that is some indication that diet plays a role.

Myth #4: “If my digital rectum exam is normal, I don’t need the PSA blood test.”
Think again. There has never been anything really abnormal during any of my annual DREs. Since 1999, I’ve supplemented the DRE by also having a PSA (prostate specific antigen) blood test. (The test itself is a simple blood test that can be done at the same time that your doctor is checking your cholesterol.) The PSA test measures a substance emitted both by the normal prostate gland and by cancerous tissue in the prostate gland. My PSA was much higher than normal during the last physical exam with my general physician. Because of the high PSA, my urologist performed a biopsy in early March. The results showed the cancer.

Most medical experts say to start having a DRE at 40 and PSA blood test at 50. Many now believe that those with a family history of prostate cancer or who are African American should have the PSA test beginning at 40. I began my PSA blood tests in my early 40s. My doctor resisted, but I insisted. You should too.

Recent studies have caused some controversy about the effectiveness of the PSA test, resulting in headlines like “Study Casts Doubt on Prostate Cancer Test.” In the past, “4” was always the magic number. That is, if the PSA reading is higher than 4.0 milligrams per milliliter of blood, then a urologist would perform a biopsy (which, unlike the PSA test, is somewhat painful and invasive). The new studies show that many men with PSAs higher than 4 have had biopsies that show no cancer. So the conclusion (wrong, in my mind) is that these ultimately unnecessary biopsies prove that PSA is not a good test for prostate cancer.

While not perfect, the PSA is still a very important test. Just as important is having a doctor who knows how to interpret the results of the test. Everyone’s anatomy is different. Everyone’s prostate is a different size. Educated urologists are looking not just at the number, but if and how fast the PSA is rising year to year. This is why it’s crucial to begin having an annual PSA test – so results can be compared from year to year. 

For example, someone might have a PSA higher than 4, but it might not be indicative of prostate cancer if the PSA is not rising or only rising incrementally year to year. Conversely, someone who has a PSA lower than 4 could have cancer if their PSA is rising significantly year to year. The so-called “PSA doubling time” (the rate of increase in PSA levels, expressed as the time it would take for a patient’s PSA level to double) has become an important marker in the progression of prostate cancer cells.

“Since prostate cancer is such a slow-growing cancer, is treatment really necessary?”
Prostate cancer IS slow growing. Many men in their 70s and 80s who are diagnosed with an early stage of prostate cancer do not have treatment because they are more likely to die of other causes before the prostate cancer kicks into high gear. But when you get high-grade prostate cancer at a young age and/or a biopsy shows aggressive cancer then you definitely need treatment right away if you want to live another 5 or 10 or 20 years.

“I heard surgery to remove the prostate is the ‘gold standard’ treatment for prostate cancer?”
Every case of prostate cancer is different, and treatment decisions must factor in age, health, stage of cancer, grade of cancer, chance of reoccurrence, life expectancy, side effects, etc. Surgery to treat prostate cancer has been the “gold standard” for many years.

Brachytherapy, where radiation seeds are implanted in the prostate, has become another “gold standard” treatment with survival rates similar to surgery. Sometimes brachytherapy is used in conjunction with external radiation to treat highly aggressive prostate cancer. There are several newer treatments as well.

“If a biopsy shows that you have prostate cancer, you should start your treatment right away!”
Waiting was one of the most difficult psychological challenges for me. I knew that I had cancer, that a tumor is growing bigger every day. “Let’s treat it now!” was my obvious first reaction. But as I said, every case of prostate cancer is different. I was better off taking the time to educate myself about prostate cancer and the possible treatments, to meet with various doctors, to undergo additional tests to determine the exact specifics of my cancer, and to talk with other prostate cancer patients via email, on the phone, and at support groups.

The decision-making process was the most stressful part of having prostate cancer. It is difficult to determine THE best treatment. My main goal, of course, was for long-term survival. But, as I wrote earlier, different doctors gave different advice about which treatment was best for me. Each treatment is a risk in some respects, and each treatment has adverse side effects. Scientific studies on different treatments provide similar success rates. And I’ve received both positive and negative testimonials from patients who have used the identical treatments. All these factors need to be weighed carefully.

Myth #5: “Trust your urologist.”
Like my former boss (President Ronald Reagan) used to say about his Soviet counterpart, “Trust, but verify.” Your urologist is likely a surgeon and if he discovers prostate cancer, he will likely recommend surgery. My urologist suggested either surgery or seed implants, but gave little information other than a basic synopsis of the two treatments. Other than performing a biopsy, he offered no additional testing. I discovered there were several tests (endorectal MRI and bone scan, to name just two) to better define whether my cancer had spread outside the prostate. I also educated myself by seeking other opinions not only with urologists but also with radiation oncologists.

In conclusion, if you have a history of prostate cancer in your family, and you’re older than 40, you should insist on having a PSA blood test in addition to the yearly DRE. African Americans should be tested early too. And even if you’re not in these two groups, consider having a PSA blood test earlier than your doctor recommends. Whatever you do, please have an annual physical exam.

Pete Souza’s photography can be seen online at www.petesouza.com. He's been an NPPA member since 1977.

DURHAM, NC – The deadline for photojournalists to apply for relief from the NPPA/NPPF’s Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund is December 2, 2005, NPPA past president Bob Gould said today, and donations to the fund will also be accepted until then.

The fund was established to help photojournalists who lost their homes, or lost their jobs, or may have been separated from their families because of Hurricane Katrina.

“The NPPA and the NPPF really want to help those affected by Hurricane Katrina. We realize that many of those affected may not realize this fund has been set up, so we are extending the deadline for donating as well as requests for funds. Many displaced and affected photojournalists are finally returning their lives to some sort of normalcy, but still are in need of money to help get them back on their feet," Gould said.

An application for consideration for relief is available as a downloadable Acrobat .PDF file here. Those wishing to apply for funds should download the form, print it out, answer the brief questions, and send in the request as soon as possible. Complete instructions are on the form.

This is also one last opportunity to ask people to support the fund with their tax-deductible donation. NPPA and NPPF solicited donations from the journalism community and the public to create the fund. The NPPF, often referred to simply as “the Foundation,” is an IRS-approved 501(c)(3) charity; all donations to the NPPF and to the Katrina Relief Fund are tax deductible.

Those who wish to donate money to the NPPF/Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund can click here to download an Acrobat .PDF version of the donation form. The form has instructions about how to make a donation via check, credit card, or PayPal and where to send the donation. PayPal members will be given an online link to use for their donation.

“We hope to award the financial grants around Christmas,” Gould said.

A committee was established to receive and review the requests for aid. Those on the committee include Gould at WZZM-TV in Grand Rapids, MI; John Ballance at The Advocate in Baton Rouge, LA; and Tim Mueller at The Advocate. Gould says that funds will be distributed based on need, affiliation with NPPA, and how much money is in the relief fund. NPPA members will be given first priority.

During the 48th annual NPPA Flying Short Course, print auctions in Boston, Austin, and Eugene raised cash for the NPPA/NPPF Katrina Relief Fund. The print auction in Eugene raised $1,854 according to NPPA vice president Tony Overman, and the print auction in Austin raised $1,425 according to NPPA president Alicia Wagner Calzada.

New York and New Jersey news photographers raised $1,325 at a fundraiser in late September when eight metropolitan-based photographers showed their photographs of the destruction and human suffering in New Orleans and Mississippi caused by Hurricane Katrina. The money was presented to NPPA Region 2 director Harry DiOrio, who placed it in the NPPA/NPPF Katrina Relief Fund.

For more information contact Gould at [email protected].

(November 18, 2005) – Today is a bittersweet day for staff photojournalist Elwood P. Smith of the Philadelphia Daily News. It’s his last day of work at the newspaper. After 68 years in the business. After 60 years at the Daily News. After being a charter NPPA member from the organization’s very beginning in the summer of 1946, with a membership card signed by NPPA founder Joseph Costa himself, a 50-year NPPA medallion, and a lifetime membership.

Smith is 86 years old, and with the changes in the newspaper, the industry, Knight Ridder, and the recent buyouts offered for editorial jobs at the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Daily News, now seemed as good a time as any to say goodbye. Today, Friday, 25 people (including Smith) will clear out of the Daily News as a result of the buyouts. The Inquirer is supposed to lose 75 people.

Buyouts are going on at other big newsrooms too, as newspapers who are still making money – good money, by Wall Street standards – are pressured by owners and investors to make the margins even bigger. It’s a tough time for newspapers, a business Smith has watch go up and down several times, and change from family ownership to corporate suits, for more than six decades now.

So come this Friday night there will be a lot fewer people in the Daily News offices. But on Thursday night many of them were still there on Smith’s next-to-last shift on the nightside, and the staff of the Daily News had a little celebration in the newsroom to recognize him, and to honor a career that started in 1937 when he was a rookie copy boy.

The photographers set up a “prom backdrop” and took turns posing for pictures with him. DailyNews photojournalist Alejandro Alvarez kept Smith in his viewfinder as the evening unfolded. There was cake, some gifts, a late dinner, a big signed drawing, maybe even a few drinks – and, of course, hugs and a few tears.

Thursday evening at the beginning of the party, on the phone with News Photographer, he couldn’t quite recall what his NPPA membership number is, but since he was there at NPPA’s beginning the odds are pretty good that it’s a fairly low digit. “I’ve got my card here somewhere,” he said. “Oh, I can’t find it right now.”

Smith’s career started with 4x5 Speed Graphic cameras and film holders and flash bulbs and evolved to 35mm film SLR cameras before ending in the digital era. He photographed Philadelphia politicians in the 1960s like The Mayor, Frank Rizzo, and in 1970 he photographed revolutionary Black Panthers being raided and strip searched by Philly police.

He’s been working on assignments right up through this week, a man who is a product of the Depression era who survived it to go on and fight in World War II, who survived war to go on and survive a 60-plus year career in newspapers - and in big, tough Philadelphia at that.

Another photographer, his coworker David Maialetti of the Daily News, has shadowed Smith during this last week on the job. Maialetti has documented the last days of one man’s long photojournalistic career in a picture essay that followed Smith through work, his daily life, and at home, pictures we hope to see in January’s issue of News Photographer magazine.

Guidelines that address key issues affecting accurate photographic reproduction and the management of digital image files for photographers and anyone working with digital images were developed over the course of the past year and released this fall at PhotoPlus Expo in New York City. The newUniversal Photographic Digital Imaging Guidelines are public, free, and available online at www.updig.org.

UPDIG organized itself as a group to establish reproduction and image management standards more than a year ago at PhotoPlus during a “digital summit.” The 15 guidelines are the result of a collaborative effort by members of roughly a dozen photographers’ groups, including theNational Press Photographers Association as represented by Greg Smith, chairperson of NPPA’s business practices committee.

The 15 guidelines – along with accompanying Best Practices documents – are intended to clarify issues affecting accurate reproduction and management of digital image files. Although the documents were created from a photographer’s perspective, Smith said that the group has worked hard to incorporate the concerns of everyone involved in the process of reproducing digital images and that anyone working with digital images should find them useful.

Smith said the guidelines have three primary goals:

1. Digital images look the same as they transfer between devices, platforms, and vendors.
2. Digital images are prepared in the correct resolution, at the correct size, for the device(s) on which they will be viewed or printed.
3. Digital images have metadata embedded that conform to the IPTC standards, making the images searchable, providing usage and contact information, and stating their creators or copyright owners.

At the “digital summit” more than a year ago, George Fulton, president of Advertising Photographers of America, proposed a set of step-by-step guidelines, Smith said, and those attending agreed that it was a worthy goal. Several members stepped up to move the guideline project forward, and the group established an online forum for communications. By early 2005, they agreed on the name Universal Photographic Digital Imaging Guidelines, and drafts of ideas were circulating. David Riecks, chairman of both American Society of Media Photographers' Digital Photography Standards and Practices committee and Stock Artists Alliance's Imaging Technology Systems, set up a Web site for UPDIG.

Smith says that by early 2005, Richard Anderson, now a national board member for ASMP, had stepped in to organize and write the Guidelines. Smith and Anderson edited the documents and others contributed critiques and ideas. ASMP’s Peter Dyson crafted a draft Web version of the guidelines, which later grew into the current Web presentation and downloadable Acrobat .PDF file.

Joining the session at this year’s PhotoPlus Expo to unveil the guidelines after participating in their development were representatives from the Australian Commercial and Media Photographers, the Advertising and Illustrative Photographers Association, the Association Of Photographers, Advertising Photographers of America, the American Society of Media Photographers, the American Society of Picture Professionals, the Canadian Association of Photographers and Illustrators in Communication, Editorial Photographers, NPPA, Professional Photographers of America, and the Stock Artists Alliance. Members of these groups make up UPDIG’s steering committee. Joining the session were representatives from software and hardware manufacturers, such as Canon, Adobe, and Microsoft; photo buyers and marketers, such as the Picture Agency Council of America, Getty Images, Jupiter Images, and Barnes & Noble; and several educators from Rochester Institute of Technology.

UPDIG ‘s board members and steering committee say they welcome industry feedback from anyone concerned about the issues of digital imaging and reproduction and file exchanges, and ask that ideas and inquiries be sent to [email protected]. Media seeking more information are urged to eMail Richard Anderson or David Riecks.

Chuck Cass, 31, a photojournalist for Sun Publications and The Napperville Sun in suburban Chicago and an NPPA member since 1997, died Friday after a three-year battle with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

“It’s so tragic. He was a talented and hardworking photographer, and a really wonderful person, too,” said Sid Hastings, assistant director of photography for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “Those of us who were lucky enough to know him realize what a special person he was. He had this wonderful, quiet sense of humor, and a real ability to put his subjects at ease. We say it a lot, but he really was able to develop an intimacy and an empathy with those he photographed.”

“Chuck really was the kind of employee you want someone to be, willing to work hard and follow through on what was asked of him. But he was also willing to tell you when he thought something was out of whack and needed to be addressed. And from what I could see as his manager he always was a great coworker to other folks on the staff,” Hastings told News Photographer today.

Cass learned he had cancer in early 2003 and he continued to work while getting treatment, the newspaper reports, saying that when he eventually became too weak to work he still stayed in contact with friends and coworkers and attended gatherings and parties when he could.

“And he never gave up – even while he was sick he was out there working his butt off to make great pictures. He got sick after I left The Sunfor St. Louis, but I remember being amazed at the good stuff he was doing while he was sick. That first year he probably missed six or seven months of work and still managed to be in the top ten for the Illinois clip contest.

“It’s such a cliche thing to say, but he really will be missed,” Hastings said.

Mike Davis was the visual director for Sun Publications from 1999 to 2001. Now he's the features picture editor for The Oregonian. "Occasionally we get to work with people who are just plain nice to be around and who can make photographs that are reflections of their own character," Davis toldNews Photographer. "Chuck Cass was that person - never complain, always make more of the situation than you thought was possible, come out smiling and asking questions. I'll miss him."

“He was the most patient photographer I know. He was a very patient person and an attentive listener,” friend and coworker Jonathan Miano, also a photojournalist at The Sun, told News Photographer magazine today. “Those character traits allowed chuck to capture some really wonderful moments with his camera.”

“Chuck had a joy and a peace through this midst of his physical suffering. He would attribute this unexplainable joy and contentment to his relationship to Jesus Christ,” Miano said. “Chuck knew God had a purpose for his life and this earth was only his temporary home.”

Jim Svehla, photography editor for The Sun, said Cass’s memorial service will be Friday, November 18, at 7 p.m. at the Calvary Church, 9 S200 State Route 59, Naperville, IL. The church telephone number is +1.630.851.7000.

DALLAS, TX - J. Howard Miller, a lifetime professional photographer and a charter member of the National Press Photographers Association from 1946, died November 10 in Dallas at the age of 86. Jay Miller of Dallas, his son who is also a photographer, said that NPPA founder Joe Costa signed his father’s original NPPA membership card. The Miller family represents three generations of photography, covering 104 years of making pictures.

Miller was born at Wellington, KS, in 1918 and grew up in Clovis, NM. Miller says that his father began his photography career in high school and that while in college he operated a small photofinishing shop and portrait studio. He also worked newspaper assignments for the Clovis News Journal. He graduated from Clovis High School in 1936 and attended the University of Southern California, Los Angeles City College, and Eastern New Mexico State College. While at USC, Miller says, he played baritone in the band and marched in the annual Rose Bowl Parade.

After working a KAVE radio in Carlsbad, NM, and working as a commercial photographer in Amarillo, TX, he began his newspaper career at the Amarillo Globe-News and Times. On December 8, 1941, he volunteered for the Army Air Force and was selected for photo training. He served the war years as a photographer and was honorably discharged in 1945. He returned to Amarillo as a staff photographer for the Amarillo Globe.

Miller, along with the late Woodfin Camp, operated as a legendary two-man photography team at the Amarillo Daily News and Globe-Times until 1953, when Miller left the paper to open his own commercial studio. In 1972, Miller and his late wife (Mary) moved to Houston where he became supervisor of still photography at the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center. He retired in 1982, bringing to an end nearly 45 years as a working professional photographer and manager, and moved to Dallas in 1997 to be near his son and family.

His son Jay Miller, a third generation professional photographer who now runs Trinity Graphics Systems in Dallas, says that his father carefully maintained his original 4x5 Speed Graphic camera until the day he died, and that his father never lost his passion for photography. “When we fully converted to digital in 2003 we bought a Canon EOS-1DS system and paid $7,000 for it, and he nearly had a heart attack,” Miller told News Photographer magazine. “After he saw the results and learned what we could do, he said it was the only way to go and that he wished he’d had this technology in his day. But I still wound up buying flash bulbs for him on eBay!”

J. Howard Miller was preceded in death by his wife in 1977. He’s survived by his son along with a daughter-in-law, Laynie Miller, and two granddaughters, Mary Kristin Miller and Lara Caitlin Miller, both of Austin, TX. He was buried with military honors at Woodlawn Cemetery in Houston. The family requests that memorials to be made to Cal Farley's Boys Ranch or to a favorite charity.

(This article originally appeared as an "Editor's Notebook" in the November 2005 issue of News Photographer magazine)

By Donald R. Winslow

As the dramatic photographs of the last few months linger in my mind, images from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and Wilma, scenes from Pakistan’s earthquake, and pictures from the seemingly never-ending war in Iraq, I just can’t shake the feeling that there’s more going on than what we’re seeing, that there are pictures out there that should be seen but aren’t being seen on front pages. Maybe it’s just a feeling fueled by my own fear of how things generally seem to be coming unglued on a global scale, both politically and environmentally (starting with the tsunami). I’m beginning to think that Fox Mulder on “The X-Files” television show maybe wasn’t far from wrong on at least one count, that possibly “the truth is out there.” But where?

For me “out there” has become, to some extent, the Internet. The pictures that have been the most important to me recently are ones that I saw first online. And now there’s a new source of images for those interested in conflict photography who want to read photojournalists’ first-hand experiences, a place for pictures and stories that bypasses the “filter” of news meetings and Page One editors’ personal predilections. It’s the new Web site www.WarShooter.com, created and produced by a respected conflict journalist, Kit R. Roane, who currently writes forU.S. News & World Report.

Roane says he created the site “to provide photojournalists covering conflict and disaster with a voice beyond the editor or the magazine.” In other words, this is where war photographers can tell the whole story, including their personal stories, unfiltered by “the process.”

Roane told me, “My hope is that WarShooter.com will give photojournalists who specialize in this area a specific outlet where they can beat the drum for things they find important, as well as promote their work and exchange ideas. I’m particularly interested in providing a forum for information coming directly from the field, unedited and raw dispatches from those who are on the ground and witnessing the events as they unfold.

“The Web site came about because of my great and general frustration with the state of the news business and where it is headed, the driving force of celebrity, and the constant squeezing of the news hole at many papers. I was also pretty shocked when I came back from Iraq following the invasion and found that many publications had failed to show a full picture of war. … While the Internet provides opportunity for photojournalists covering the important stories of the day, the ability of photojournalists to get those stories out through traditional media outlets becomes more difficult every day. I mean Life magazine used to be about, well, life. Now it features ‘the sexiest cars of 2006.’ Even if WarShooter fails to do anything more, it will at least give good dedicated photographers a place to note their work and have a few people take a look at it.

“I am a writer and photojournalist. But this portal is a personal endeavor, unaffiliated with my work. It’s really not about me at all. I am just providing a means for others to get their words and their work out.”

Covering conflict is something he knows well. For more than a decade Roane has worked as a photojournalist and writer covering Bosnia, Afghanistan, and Iraq, as well as investigating folks who’ve been called “mobsters and corporate thieves.” A Texas native, he was a journalist at The New York Times before joining U.S. News; his photography is represented by SIPA Press. New stories are now appearing on WarShooter and it’s worth checking out.

By Jenn Fields

COLUMBIA, MO – As the four judges gathered around thumbnail images of five portfolios, 20 college photographers closed in on them like paparazzi.

The sound of their shutters nearly drowned out the hushed discussion of the judges. But the judges weren’t debating the winning portfolio for the 60th College Photographer of the Year – their silence made the winner obvious. Second and third place were still up for grabs; the debate was over the singles, stories, and subjects in the other four portfolios.

Chris Detrick, a 22-year-old Missouri graduate, held his breath in the middle of the melee of cameras. His portfolio was one of the remaining four.

The judges chose second, then third, then an honorable mention. Detrick’s was the last one left: honorable mention, the judges said.

Detrick exhaled. “Jesus Christ,” he muttered in relief under his breath.

It was over. After viewing more than 3,000 images, the judges had chosen the 60th College Photographer of the Year. RitaReed, the director of the competition hosted by the Missouri School of Journalism, called up the winner and turned on the speakerphone so the audience could hear him.

“Is this Casey Templeton?” Reed asked the voice on the other end.

“Yes, this is Casey,” Templeton said.

Reed asked him to guess who had won the 60th CPOY. Templeton couldn’t believe he was it!

“I think I’m going to wake up and be pissed,” he said.

Templeton, 22 (at right, in self portrait), an NPPA member since 2003 and a member of Sportsshooter.com, is a senior at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Va., majoring in media arts and design. The school does not have a photojournalism program, but Templeton says he doesn’t regret going to JMU.

“It motivates me to go out and do my own work,” he said.

Scott Strazzante, a CPOY judge and photojournalist for the Chicago Tribune, who has been an NPPA member since 1987, said the judges were looking for a photographer with a strong vision who is comfortable with documentary style and lighter photo essays. He cited the versatility of the winning portfolio.

“It comes down to style, very strong style,” Strazzante said. “They definitely have something to say about the world.”

As the winner of the portfolio competition, Templeton will receive a digital SLR from Nikon, a 14-week internship at National Geographic magazine and a $1,000 scholarship from the National Press Photographers Foundation. National Geographic and Nikon both returned to CPOY as sponsors this year. In addition to awarding cameras to the top three portfolios, Nikon also provided an educational grant that covered students’ entry fees for the contest.

The runner-up CPOY winning Silver in Portfolio is Yoon Byun of Ohio University in Athens, OH, and Justin Cook of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill won Bronze in Portfolio. Benjamin Sklar of the University of Texas won Gold in Spot News, Katie Falkenberg of Ohio University won Gold in General News, and Matt Eich of Ohio University won Gold in Feature.

Jason Hunter of the Brooks Institute of Photography won Gold for Sports Action, and Chris Bergin of Ball State University won Gold for Sports Feature. Chris Detrick of the University of Missouri won Gold for Sports Portfolio.

Byun won Gold for Portrait, and Matt Mallams of the Brooks Institute of Photography won Gold for Pictorial. Allison Lazard of Ohio University won Gold for Illustration, and Ramsay De Give of the Brooks Intstitute of Photography won Gold for Personal Vision. Byun also won Gold for Domestic Picture Story, and Samkit Shah of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill won Gold for International Picture Story. And Javier Manzano of the Brooks Institute for Photography won Gold for Documentary.

Cliff and Vi Edom founded the competition in 1945. The annual contest is sponsored by the University of Missouri, Nikon, National Geographic magazine, the National Press Photographers Foundation, The Poynter Institute for Media Studies, and the Missouri Photo Workshop. UM administers the contest with the help of Kappa Alpha Mu. NPPF administers the Colonel William J. Lookadoo and the Milton Freier Memorial Awards in conjunction with the contest.

In addition to Strazzante, the other CPOY judges were Manny Crisostomo, a senior photographer at the Sacramento Bee; Judy Siviglia, formerly with the Raleigh News & Observer; and Mary Vignoles, the deputy director of photography at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

For a complete list of this year’s winners in each category please see www.cpoy.org. Winners and their winning images will go live on the CPOY Web site very soon.

A profile of Casey Templeton, as well as a story about the CPOY judging, both by Jenn Fields, will appear in the January 2006 issue of News Photographer magazine.

DURHAM, NC - The Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University in Durham, NC, reminds photojournalists that the deadlines for their two major annual competitions are approaching: The Dorothea Lange-Paul Taylor Prize, and the 25 UNDER 25competition.

CDS will be accepting applications for the Dorothea Lange-Paul Taylor Prize, a $20,000 USD award given annually, during the month of January only, and with all required materials submitted only under one cover, up until the competition's deadline of January 31, 2006.

The deadline for the third annual 25 UNDER 25 competition, which is only held every five years, is April 28, 2006, and is for photographers who were born on or after April 28, 1981. The selected photographers and their work will be published in a book, 25 Under 25: Up-and-Coming American Photographers, and this time the competition's theme is "transitions," or what CDS says it means to be "in-between, in flux, or at odds."

The Lange-Taylor Prize is awarded to a writer and photographer who are in the early stages of a documentary project, and was created to encourage collaboration between documentary writers and photographers in the tradition of photographer Dorothea Lange and Paul Taylor, a social scientist and writer. Together they published An American Exodus in 1941, the story in words and photographs of the mass migration of agricultural workers and farmers in America in the 1930s that was caused by changes in society, the economy, and an extended drought, documenting a relationship between Americans of that era and the land.

The 2005 Lange-Taylor Prize was awarded to photographer Peter Brown and writer Kent Haruf for their project "High Plains," which they say will document "the people, land, and small towns of the High Plains: a part of the country that dips eastward from the Rockies and rolls south from Saskatchewan and Alberta to the Texas Panhandle."

The Center for Documentary Studies (CDS) guidelines prohibit individual applications as the award is intended to support collaborative efforts, but more than two people may apply as long as one of the participants is a writer and one is a photographer, and the work is being done in black and white or color still photography. Winners will be picked and notified by mid-summer 2006.

Other past winners include Keith Carter, Donna DeCesare, Luis Rodriguez, Reagan Louie, River Houston, Ernesto Bazan, Deborah Luster, Rob Amberg, C. D. Wright, Jason Eskenazi, Dona Ann McAdams, Brad Kessler, Misty Keasler, Katherine Dunn, and Jim Lommasson. Full details about the award and materials required for submitting an entry for the Lange-Taylor Prize are online here.

The 25 UNDER 25 competition issues an open call for submissions and the selection process will take place during 2006 with an announcement of the winners. The book is planned for publication in 2008. Photographers who want to enter the competition must put together 25 photographs that explore the theme and submitted digitally on CD-ROM. 

The CDS says that previous winners include Alex Ambrose, Tracey Chiang, Reuben Cox, Ken Fandell, Wyatt Gallery, Eric Gottesman, Greg Halpern, Colby Katz, Misty Keasler, Kate Lacey, Carrie Levy, Thom Lussier, Malerie Marder, Brian McKee, Laurel Nakadate, Brad Richman, Andrew Rogers, Alex Tehrani, Hank Thomas, Carla Williams, and Jessica Wynne.

Casey Kelbaugh wants to remind all NPPA members and interested photojournalists that Slideluck Potshow V will be held this Saturday, November 12, at Eddie Adams’s Bathhouse Studios in the East Village in New York City, where more than 40 artists will present their work across two floors of display space.

The event will be emceed by Ian Webster and dee-jay Neil Stevenson will provide audio entertainment. Doors open at 7 p.m. and the slide shows begin at 9:30 p.m. The theme for Slideluck Potshow V is “Anticipation.”

“Please remember to bring good food and drink. Spirits are encouraged. We look forward to a bountiful feast and a cornucopia of slide presentations,” Kelbaugh says. “We are anticipating a real zinger and we hope to see you there.”

Slideluck Potshow V is the fifth such event Kelbaugh, an advertising and editorial photographer, has presented since he founded the first gathering in 2000.

"Slideluck Potshow is a slideshow and a potluck to which members of NYC's arts, photography, and media communities bring food, drink, and a maximum of 5 minutes worth of slides," Kelbaugh writes about the event on his Web site. "The evening begins with a couple hours of dining on the home-cooked delights of participants, while drinking and mingling.

"There is no entrance fee or guest list; one's admission is a full-bodied bottle of wine, some vegetable samosas, Thai green curry, pumpkin ravioli, or some rosemary lamb chops. All guests are asked to contribute as there is no corporate sponsorship, arts, or professional organization sponsoring the event. It is entirely independent and participation-based. Following the potluck, the lights are dimmed, the crowd is hushed, and a spectacular slideshow commences."

See www.slideluckpotshow.com for more information.