NPPA Sends Aid To Photographers Hurt By Katrina

The National Press Photographers Association and its charitable arm, the National Press Photographers Foundation, are distributing nearly $10,000 to photographers affected by Hurricane Katrina.

The NPPA and NPPF began raising money in September, shortly after the hurricane struck the Gulf Coast.

NPPA past president Bob Gould announced on the NPPA web site that the money will go to help six photojournalists and their families who were displaced by the hurricane.

The photojournalists were mailed checks last month just before Christmas. In the interest of privacy, the NPPA did not release the names of the photographers receiving the donations.

Photographers in need were selected through an application process overseen by Gould, of WZZM-TV in Grand Rapids, Mich., John Balance and Tim Mueller from The Advocate in Baton Rouge, La., and C. Thomas Hardin, currently the Foundation's vice president and a retired photography director of the Louisville Courier-Journal and the Detroit News. NPPA members were given first priority in the selection process. Four of the six photojournalists are NPPA members.

The NPPA and NPPF collected donations online, through print auctions and through fundraising events.