DAVID LEESON, PHOTOJOURNALIST

David Leeson has been a staff photographer for The Dallas Morning News since 1984. In 2004, he was a Pulitzer Prize Winner for his photographs depicting the violence and poignancy of the war with Iraq. In 1985, Leeson was also a Pulitzer finalist for his photo coverage of apartheid in South Africa. In 1986, he lived on the streets of Dallas with the homeless for two months. The photos, published in a 24-page special section by The Dallas Morning News, won a Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award for Outstanding Coverage of the Problems of the Disadvantaged. In 1991, Leeson arrived in Kuwait City with the 1st Marine Division and was among the first journalists to photograph in the city following Iraq’s withdrawal during the Gulf War. The following year he returned to the gulf and gave readers an exclusive look inside war-torn Baghdad. In 1994, he covered civil war in Angola, earning a second Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award. In the same year, a Leeson photograph of a family evacuating floodwaters in southeast Texas was named a finalist for the Pulitzer. For more than 14-months, 1996 thru 1997, he worked on an essay about death row in the United States. Following that assignment, Leeson completed stories in China, Bosnia, the 1999 earthquake in Turkey and civil war in Sudan.

CAROL GUZY, PHOTOJOURNALIST

Carol Guzy is a three-time Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer with The Washington Post. Guzy originally studied to be a nurse, but changed course after taking a photojournalism class. She received her most recent Pulitzer in 2000 for photographs of Kosovo refugees, a second in 1995 for her portrayal of the U.S. intervention in Haiti, and her first in 1986 awarding her work during a mudslide in Colombia for The Miami Herald. Guzy graduated from the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale in 1980 and acquired her first job with the Miami Herald after a successful internship. She spent eight years at the Herald, then joined The Washington Post in 1988. In 1990, Guzy was the first woman to receive the Newspaper Photographer of the Year Award, presented by the National Press Photographers Association.

JOHN KAPLAN, PHOTOJOURNALIST / AUTHOR

John Kaplan’s ‘Diverse Lifestyles of American 21-Year-Olds’ project won the 1992 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography. His work shows at museums and galleries worldwide including solo exhibitions in the United States, Bolivia and Korea as well as group shows in the U.S., United Kingdom, France, Japan, Korea, Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.

Kaplan is 1989 Photographer of the Year for the annual Pictures of the Year (POY) contest and received the Robert F. Kennedy Award for outstanding coverage of the disadvantaged in the United States. He is the photography, design and international journalism professor at the University of Florida. John is twice photography juror for the Pulitzer Prize and is a frequent lecturer at photo workshops and seminars worldwide.

Kaplan's ‘Survivors of Torture in West Africa’ project won the 2003 Overseas Press Club Award for Feature Photography and the Harry Chapin Media Award for Photojournalism, and received recognition from the Robert F. Kennedy Foundation, National Headliner Awards, Best of Photojournalism Competition, Pictures of the Year International, Society of News Design and Photo District News Best of Photography Contest. Kaplan is author of Photo Portfolio Success (Writers Digest Books) and has beta-tested digital wedding album production techniques for two companies, including ArtZ.

DON BARTLETTI, PHOTOJOURNALIST

Don Bartletti has been with the staff of the Los Angeles Times for 24 years. His photojournalism career started in 1972 at the Vista Press, his hometown paper. He moved on to the Oceanside Blade-Tribune, the San Diego Union and then the Los Angeles Times. Except for an introductory college class in photography he is essentially self-taught in the discipline. Don’s college art major studies were cut short in 1968 by the Vietnam War. However, as an Army Infantry 1LT in Vietnam he developed observational skills that serve him today as a photojournalist.

For the Los Angeles Times, he has had investigative and feature assignments throughout Mexico, Central America, South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. Bartletti also covered the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Over his career Bartletti has received more than 50 awards, including the 2003 Pulitzer Prize. That photo essay chronicles the plight of Central American children riding northbound freight trains in Mexico to reach relatives in the U.S. The Pulitzer guilds his career-long dedication to the causes and effects of migration to the U.S. from Latin America.

Other important awards include the Robert F. Kennedy Award for International Photography, the George Polk Award, the Scripps-Howard Foundation Award, and many from the National Press Photographers Association, Pictures of the Year International, World Press Photo, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, the Inter American Press Association, and the Rubin Salazar Award.

Bartletti’s photographs have been exhibited in museums throughout the U.S. and Mexico. He frequently lectures at universities and teaches workshops about his photojournalist approach to photography.

Bartletti is married with two children and has made his home in northern San Diego County for 46 years.

JAY DICKMAN, PHOTOJOURNALIST

Jay Dickman is a National Geographic photographer; he has photographed more than 25 assignments for the Society. Jay was a participating photographer on 15 of the Day in the Life Of series; also a photographer on “Passage to Vietnam” and was featured on the interactive CD ROM. Jay has photographed for publications such as National Geographic Adventure, Conde Nast Traveler, FORTUNE, Forbes, American Way Magazine, and TIME. Jay, an “Olympus Visionary” and a “Lexar Elite Photographer”, also has to his credit the Pulitzer Prize, many national and regional awards, and was most recently an instructor for a series of classes in ‘Advanced Digital Photography’ at the 2006 “MacWorld” in San Francisco. McGraw-Hill recently published Perfect Digital Photography, co-authored by Jay Dickman: a start-to-finish guide to digital photography, discussing the aesthetics of photography, workflow and working in Photoshop.

DENIS FINLEY, EDITOR IN CHIEF

Denis Finley is the editor of The Virginian-Pilot, a 200,000 circulation daily newspaper. Denis graduated with honors in 1975 from Philadelphia's Temple University. After a long hiatus from school, he received his master's degree in journalism with kappa tau alpha honors from the University of Missouri in 1987. Denis began his journalism career at The Virginian-Pilot in 1987 as a photographer, became photo editor in 1993, followed by jobs as features editor and news editor before becoming deputy managing editor for presentation in 1999. In that position, Denis guided The Virginian-Pilot to recognition by the Society for News Design as one of the world's best designed newspapers in 2001. Denis was named managing editor in 2003 and editor in 2005. Denis has served as visiting faculty member at the Poynter Institute and has twice been a Pulitzer Prize juror, judging breaking news photography and feature photography. In 2005, Denis chaired the photo jury. While at Missouri Denis was named College Photographer of the Year and won Best-in-Show and college photographer of the year at the Southern Short Course. While at The Pilot, Denis was named NPPA Region 3 Photographer of the Year among numerous other awards including the Pictures of the Year competition. The Pilot has won Best-in-Show for news design from The Virginia Press Association for tenth consecutive years, second in Best Use of Photos at POYi, the public service award three years in a row and a gold, silver and 31 awards of excellence in this year's SND competition.

MARK EDELSON, PHOTOJOURNALIST / PRESENTATION EDITOR

Mark Edelson is Presentation Editor at The Palm Beach Post, where he works with photographers, designers, reporters and editors on the packaging of stories throughout the paper.

He joined The Post as a picture editor in 1993, and since then has been named Newspaper Picture Editor of the Year eight times. He's also been the lead picture editor or designer for the Post team that has earned numerous awards at Best of Photojournlism, Pictures of the Year, Society for News Design and the Picture Editing Quarterly Clip Contest. Earlier this year, for work done in 2004 he was named Picture Editor of the Year at BOP, the Post won Best Use of Photography at POY and in the PEQCC, and the Post photo staff was a Pulitzer finalist for photographic coverage of Florida's 2004 hurricanes.