LA Times' Cole Wins BOP Photojournalist Of The Year

Carolyn Cole of The Los Angeles Times was named Photojournalist of the Year in the large markets category in the National Press Photographers Association Best of Photojournalism competition Friday.

Cole's winning portfolio spans many major stories, including efforts to rebuild New Orleans, the war in Darfur and the crisis of AIDS in Swaziland. But her work during the Israeli-Lebanon war stood out to the judges, winning Best of Show in the category of Picture Story, first place in International News Picture Story and third place in International News.

Coverage of Lebanon has dominated the major photojournalism contests so far this year.

The second place winner of the BOP Photojournalist of the Year was Tyler Hicks of The New York Times, who also was named Pictures of the Year International (POYi) Newspaper Photographer of the Year on the strength of his Lebanon coverage. Third place went to Spencer Platt, whose shot of young people cruising through bombed-out Beirut in a convertible was named World Press Photo of the Year earlier this year. Michael Macor of the San Francisco Chronicle was given an honorable mention ? the only photographer recognized in that category whose entry did not include images from Lebanon.

The photo coverage of Israeli strikes on Lebanon last summer revealed many casualties among civilians, including children. But it drew criticism from pro-Israel bloggers, who claimed scenes were being staged for the benefit of news cameras.

BOP Photojournalist of the Year is the latest of many awards for Cole, who won a Pulitzer Prize in 2004 and was named BOP Newspaper Photographer of the Year (then a distinct category from magazine photographer) in 2002 and 2004. More recently, Cole won an award of excellence in the Newspaper Photographer of the Year category in this year's POYi competition.

Brian Hill of the Daily Herald of Illinois won Best of Show in the single category for a picture of a firefighter recovering the body of a missing two-year-old boy. The photo also won first place in the Domestic News category.

Mary Calvert of The Washington Times was named Photojournalist of the Year for smaller markets (defined as a newspaper with less than 115,000 circulation).

Sarah L. Voisin of The Washington Post was awarded the Cliff Edom's "New America Award," given in recognition of stories about under-covered groups, for a project on Hispanic immigrants coming to the U.S.

Donald Miralle, Jr. of Getty Images was named BOP Sports Photojournalist of the Year, after claiming the same prize in this year's POYi competition. He also won the same two honors last year.

In a new category this year, humor, three of the four winners were pictures of cute animals. First place went to Dipti Vaidya of The Tennessean for a shot of a mule seeming to have the legs of a human (or maybe a human with the head of a mule).

A complete list of still photography winners is online at bop.nppa.org. Winners in the photo editing categories will be announced in the coming days.

Related stories

• March 1: Tyler Hicks, Christopher Anderson Win Top POYi Awards


• Aug. 10, 2006: Bloggers Comb The Wires For Suspicious War Photos


• July 27, 2006: Photographers Face Danger, Limited Mobility in Lebanon


• April 29, 2004: Carolyn Cole, Alex Majoli Win Again At OPC


• April 1, 2004: Carolyn Cole, Alex Majoli Win BOP's Top Awards


• March 11, 2004: Carolyn Cole, James Nachtwey Win Top POYi Awards
  


• April 5, 2004: Leeson, Diaz Meyer Of DMN And LAT's Cole Win Photo Pulitzers


• April 10, 2002: NPPA Awards Best of Photojournalism