[Ed.: Corrected March 10.]
Getty Images’ photographers won 19 17 awards in the 66th Annual Pictures of the Year International Competition—far and away the most awards amassed by any news agency, even if aided by the status of the official photographic agency of the International Olympic Committee. With only one two (second- and third-place) wins, Getty’s performance at the smaller but arguably more prestigious World Press Photo was rather less impressive, particularly in contrast to one first-place and two second-place awards won by Corbis shooters.
Although several other shooters won multiple POY and World Press awards, U.S.-based freelancer Anthony Suau became the most critically acclaimed photographer of 2008. His work documenting his country’s economic woes took two awards at each POY and World Press, including the coveted title of World Press Photo of the Year 2008. This prize was awarded for an image of a police officer moving through a foreclosed home in Cleveland, Ohio.
At the POY, the judging of which closed last Friday, Getty outshone news-industry leaders Associated Press and Agence France-Presse, which respectively won 11 and 8 awards. Aurora Photos, VII and Reuters won six, five and four POY awards, respectively. Contrasto, Luceo Images, ImageForum and Contact Press won two awards each, while prominent photojournalism organizations Agence Vu, Magnum, Noor and Redux each took one prize.
| Getty Images’ POY Wins: Mostly Olympics, Some News |
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Beyond Sinai’s big win, the majority of Getty’s POY wins were in the Olympics and sports categories. Heinz Kluetmeier (with Jeff Kavan), Sports Illustrated/Getty Images, won first place in Olympics Action. Jed Jacobsohn came in third and Julian Finney won two awards of excellence in the same category Olympics Action. Other sports-related wins included third place and three awards of excellence in the Olympics Feature category and second and third-place prizes for Sports Portfolio.
Getty photographers placed second and third for magazine News Picture Story. They also won third-place awards in newspaper General News Reporting and Issue Reporting Picture Story categories, three awards of excellence for covering last year’s elections and a Multimedia News Story award of excellence. |
Getty’s Uriel Sinai won the POY title of Magazine Photographer of the Year, beating World Press winner Suau in the eyes of POY judges, who placed Suau in second place. Sinai and Getty’s Al Bello, Julian Finney and Chip Somodevilla each took home two POY awards.
At World Press Photo—which gives out considerably fewer awards than POY—Agence France-Presse, Corbis and Reuters outshined all others with three awards each. Agenzia Grazia Neri, the Associated Press, Contrasto, Focus Photo und Presse Agentur, Getty Images and Noor each won two World Press awards. Agence Vu, Aurora Photos, Contact Press, the European Pressphoto Agency, Getty Images, Redux and Zuma Press won one award each.
In addition to the top prize, Suau’s coverage of Cleveland’s devastated housing market won second prize in the Daily Life stories category. Only two other photographers won two World Press awards each: Chinese freelancer Zhao Qing and French Corbis Outline staffer Jérôme Bonnet. Qing placed first in the Sports Features stories category and second in General News singles. Bonnet took home second singles prizes in the Portraits and Arts and Entertainment categories.
Corbis’ Carlos Cazalis, working out of Mexico, won the top stories prize in the Contemporary Issues category—the same category that included one of Getty’s only wins, by its France-based photographer Veronique de Viguerie, who placed third. Getty’s Australia-based Mark Dadswell also won second prize in Sports Action singles. Last year, Getty photographers won five World Press awards.