WASHINGTON POST PHOTOGRAPHER WINS AWARD

By: Dorothy Ho White House News Photographers' Honor Given


(Photo District News) The
Washington Post photographer Michael Williamson is the White House News
Photographers' Association's pick for Photographer of the Year. He was named top
shooter in "The Eyes of History 2001," an annual competition. Williamson, along
with other winners, will be honored at a gala dinner in Washington, D.C., on
April 21.

A photographer for 26 years who joined the Post in 1993, Williamson said:
"For me, [the award] means a lot. This has been one of the hardest years I had
to go through as a photographer." Physically, last year was a year he had paid
"very dearly" for, he explains. His eyes were injured by tear gas when he
covered the World Bank protests in Washington D.C., and in Nigeria, he
contracted cholera and was sick for a month.

Williamson is no stranger to awards. He was one of three Washington Post
shooters who snagged a Pulitzer Prize in the feature photography category last
year for images of Kosovo refugees, and he also picked up a non-fiction Pulitzer
in 1990 for his book with Dale Maharidge, And Their Children After Them,
published by Pantheon Books. He was also Newspaper Photographer of the Year in
the 1995 Pictures of the Year contest.

This win is especially sweet because it's a "tough contest," said Williamson.
Photographers from news magazines, wires, agencies and newspapers are up against
each other, and "not in the least, a fellow Washington Post photographer
has won it for the past decade," he added. For the record, photojournalist Carol
Guzy, who won last year, was the winner eight times in the last 10 years.

He credits his strong portfolio - which ranged from small, hometown images
to international events - for his win. He not only won the top spot for the
portraits and personalities category and the picture story/feature category, but
was also placed in the portfolio and sports feature sections, to name a few.
He's received media attention (he was on National Public Radio) and responses
from strangers who have seen his winning work on Web sites.

"I like the second life the photograph gets when it wins a prize," Williamson
said. "In newspaper photography, today, it's a hard-earned photo, tomorrow, it's
fish wrap.

A complete list of winners is available at http://www.whnpa.org/.



Photo District News is a sister publication to E&P.



Copyright 2001, Editor & Publisher.