JUDGES - Q4 '08 WPJA CONTEST

BRIAN LANKER, PHOTOJOURNALIST

Brian Lanker has won numerous awards including the Pulitzer Prize in 1973 for his feature photography. He was named National Newspaper Photographer of the Year in 1970 and again in 1976. His work for LIFE Magazine and Sports Illustrated has received numerous honors around the world. He presently divides his time between editorial/advertising still photography and motion picture writing and directing.

Born August 31, 1947 in Detroit, Michigan, Lanker grew up in Phoenix, Arizona where he attended schools including Phoenix College. The son of a newspaper feature writer, he became interested in photography in high school and by college, was working at the Phoenix Gazette at the age of eighteen. He joined the staff of the Topeka (Kansas) Capital-Journal in 1970 as a staff photographer. He became director of photography at the Eugene (Oregon) Register-Guard in 1975 where he organized a highly acclaimed photographic report. He left the newspaper in 1982, subsequently becoming a contributing photographer to Sports Illustrated and LIFE magazines. Soon thereafter, he expanded his career to advertising photography. He continues today photographing National and International advertising campaigns.

In February 1989, Mr. Lanker’s exhibition of photographs entitled, “I Dream a World: Portraits of Black Women Who Changed America”, opened at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. This two-year-long project was a dream of Lanker’s, that these special women of American History would not be forgotten. Concurrently with the exhibition, a book of the same title (“I Dream a World”) was published by Stewart, Tabori and Chang of New York City. The response by the press and public has been overwhelming. The exhibition has set records for attendance at the Corcoran Gallery of Art and many other museums throughout the country. The original two year national exhibition quickly blossomed into a six-year international tour. Attendance of this museum tour is placed at well over one million viewers. The accompanying book was in a second printing before the first printing had reached bookstores. Currently it is in its fourteenth printing with total sales well over 400,000 copies, making it one of the most successful photographic books ever.

Perhaps one of Lanker’s greatest honors was when he was chosen as one of eight photographers to be included in a series of audio visual educational programs entitled “Images of Man”. Lanker, along with W. Eugene Smith, Henry Cartier Bresson and Elliott Porter were featured individual programs in that series.

He directed his first documentary film, They Drew Fire: Combat Artists of WWII in 1999. It aired prime time on PBS and was nominated for the International Documentary Awards.

Lanker, now sixty-one years old, lives with his wife Lynda, herself a nationally known artist.

MARY F. CALVERT, PHOTOJOURNALIST

Photojournalist, Mary F. Calvert has been a staff photographer at The Washington Times since 1998. While she has covered the White House and presidential campaigns, her calling is documenting the plight of women around the world. Calvert was a finalist for the 2007 Pulitzer Prize in Feature Photography “for her haunting depiction of sub-Sahara African women afflicted with fistula after childbirth” and was awarded the 2008 Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award in International Photography for her project, “Lost Daughters: Sex Selection in India”.

Calvert’s other honors include: 2007 National Press Photographer’s Association (NPPA) Photojournalist of the Year for Smaller Markets and First Place Portfolio in the White House News Photographer’s Association 2007 Eyes of History competition.

In addition to being a guest faculty member of the Western Kentucky University, Mountain Workshops, and the NPPA’s Flying Short Course, Calvert has been a member of the faculty for the Department of Defense Worldwide Military Photographers Workshop in Ft. Meade for the last twelve years.

Before joining the staff of The Washington Times, Calvert spent nine years covering the Bay Area for The Oakland Tribune and The Hayward Daily Review. She is a graduate of San Francisco State University, where she earned a Bachelor's degree in Journalism. She makes her home in Annapolis, Maryland, with her husband Joseph M. Eddins, Jr. and 18-year-old daughter, Mary Stone Eddins.

DENNY SIMMONS, PHOTOJOURNALIST

Denny Simmons, BJ '93 is a University of Missouri graduate, currently a photographer with the Evansville Courier & Press. Past positions include picture editor at the News Sun (Waukegan, Ill.), picture editor at the St. Joseph (Mo.) News-Press, and photographer at the Jacksonville (Ill.) Journal-Courier. Simmons was recently named NPPA's Best of Photojournalism Photographer of the Year (smaller markets) in 2008. He's also been named Region 4 POY twice and currently serves as the National Clip Chair for the Monthly News Clip Contest. He has also served as Region 4 Director for two terms. Simmons has been Indiana News Photographers Association Photographer of the Year, and he has won the INPA Clip POY six times. He was awarded the title of College Photographer of the Year for work done in 1992.

Simmons is married to Penny (yeah, Penny and Denny) and they have two kids, Ben, 12, and Hannah, 10. They've also have a 2-year-old beagle named Indy.

AMANDA VOISARD, PHOTOJOURNALIST

Freelance photojournalist Amanda Voisard is based in Flagstaff, Arizona. Before entering the world of freelance, she worked as a staff photographer for seven years at daily newspapers. She worked from 2006-2009 on the award-winning staff at the Palm Beach Post in south Florida and previously at the Watertown Daily Times. She also worked as an intern at the Farmington Daily Times while earning her photojournalism degree at Ohio University.

She has received numerous awards for her work. Most recently, several of her images were featured in the 2009 Women in Photojournalism Exhibit as well as the 2008 exhibition. Her work has been honored by MSNBC.com Year in Pictures, Florida Press Club, New York State Associated Press, National Press Photographers Association and Atlanta Photojournalism Seminar.

Her work has been published in various newspapers, magazines, and online publications including msnbc.com, TIME.com, MLB.com, The Palm Beach Post, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Watertown Daily Times, Farmington Daily Times, NE Law Magazine, Veterans Magazine and DOUBLEtruck Magazine.

LISA KRANTZ, PHOTOJOURNALIST

Lisa Krantz has been a staff photographer at the San Antonio Express-News since March 2004. Previously she worked at the Naples (FL) Daily News for five years. Krantz attended Florida State University, where she received a Bachelor's degree in psychology and earned her Master's degree in photography from Syracuse University.

At the Express-News she covers everything from hurricanes to the NBA Championship although her true love is telling intimate untold stories in communities. Most recently she spent close to two years documenting life in the small city of Helotes, Texas, as it struggles to maintain its identity in the face of suburban growth.

She is the National Press Photographers Association 2005 Region 8 Photographer of the Year and runner-up for 2004 and 2006. Her work has also been honored by POYi, NPPA's Best of Photojournalism, the Southern Short Course in News Photography and the Atlanta Photojournalism Seminar. She has served on the faculty of several workshops including the Southern Short Course and the Eddie Adams Workshop.

BOB CAREY, PHOTOJOURNALIST

Bob Carey's passion for photography began in high school and has spanned over four decades. His love for capturing moments in time led him to a career in photojournalism, and for the past 12 years, he has dedicated himself to developing photographers.

As chair of the Department of Communication Studies at Gardner-Webb University in Boiling Springs, N.C., Carey shares his passion with students. He also serves as President of the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA) and on the board of directors of Christians in Photojournalism.

YUNGHI KIM, PHOTOJOURNALIST

Yunghi Kim is a freelance photographer based in New York. For 12 years, she was a staff photographer at the Boston Globe, and the Patriot Ledger in Quincy Massachusetts. She was a member of Contact Press Images from 1995 to 2008.

Kim has covered conflicts all over the world, as well as worked on many in-depth issue-driven stories where intimate storytelling and giving a voice to her subjects through the camera remains important to her.

Kim had received awards from the World Press Photo Foundation, named the Magazine Photographer of the Year (Pictures of the Year/National Press Photographers Association), the Olivier Rebbot Award and the John Faber Award from the Overseas Press Club of America (OPC), Visa D’or Award at Visa Pour L’image Festival (Perpignan, France), and the White House Press Photographers, Communication in Arts and Society for News Design. Kim also received the Distinguished Alumni Award from Boston University and has served as a speaker at the Nieman Narrative Journalism Conference at Harvard University.

BILL FRAKES, PHOTOJOURNALIST

Bill Frakes is a Sports Illustrated Staff Photographer based in Florida. He has worked in more than 100 countries for a wide variety of editorial and advertising clients. His advertising clients include Nike, Coca-Cola, Champion, Isleworth, Stryker, IBM, Nikon, Kodak, and Reebok. Editorially, his work has appeared in virtually every major general interest publication in the world.

Bill won the coveted Newspaper Photographer of the Year award in the prestigious Pictures of the Year competition. He was a member of the Miami Herald staff that won the Pulitzer Prize for their coverage of Hurricane Andrew. He has also been honored by the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Awards for reporting on the disadvantaged and by the Overseas Press club for distinguished foreign reporting. He was awarded the Gold Medal by World Press Photo. Bill has received hundreds of national and international awards for his work.

SUSAN WALSH, PHOTOJOURNALIST

Susan Walsh has worked as a staff photographer for the Associated Press for the last 15 years covering everything from Presidents to Patriots — the ones from New England, or course! In 1999, Walsh was part of the Associated Press team to win the Pulitzer Prize. Most recently, Walsh served as president of the White House News Photographers Association (www.whnpa.org) from 2001 to 2006.