Judging complete for 2022 NPOY
Judging complete for 2022 NPOY
Finalists and judging video coming soon
Dear members,
We are pleased to announce judging for the 2022 National Pictures of the Year competition is complete, and the judging video will be uploaded in coming days alongside the announcements of finalists.
Three industry-leading judges gave their time to review this year’s entries, Marcus Yam, B.D. Colen, and Hilary Swift
Marcus Yam is a roving Los Angeles Times foreign correspondent and staff photographer. Born and raised in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, he left a career in aerospace engineering to become a photographer. His goal: to take viewers to the frontlines of conflict, struggle and intimacy. His approach is deeply rooted in curiosity, dignity and persistence. In 2022, Yam won the Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography for images documenting the U.S. departure from Afghanistan that capture the human cost of the historic change in the country.
Most recently, he was named the 2023 Robert Capa Gold Medal Winner for his courage and coverage of the war on Ukraine, cited for nuance and poetry. Yam is a two-time recipient of the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Journalism Award, notably in 2019, for his unflinching body of work showing the everyday plight of Gazans during deadly clashes in the Gaza Strip. He was also part of two Pulitzer Prize-winning breaking news teams that covered the San Bernardino, Calif., terrorist attacks in 2015 for the Los Angeles Times and the deadly landslide in Oso, Wash. in 2014, for the Seattle Times. His previous work has also earned an Emmy Award for News and Documentary, World Press Photo Award, DART Award for Trauma Coverage, Scripps Howard Visual Journalism Award, Picture of the Year International’s Newspaper Photographer of the Year Award, Society of Professional Journalists’ Sigma Delta Chi Award, National Headliner Award and an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award. When he’s not working, Yam likes minimizing and organizing his life for efficiency for emergencies.
B. D. Colen’s life as both a photographer and Pulitzer Prize-winning writer began 60 years ago this summer when he covered the historic March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom for a weekly newspaper in his native Connecticut. Along the way, Colen spent about 25 years in various reporting and editing, roles at The Washington Post, and Newsday, worked for a similar amount of time in communications for Harvard University and several medical institutions in Boston. His photographic work has appeared in media ranging from The Christian Science Monitor, to The Boston Globe, from CNN to Boston Magazine, and from institutional publications to The New England Journal of Medicine.
Colen, who has lived in Canada for the past seven years, taught documentary photography at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for 17 years and also has taught numerous independent workshops. For the bulk of his journalism career, B. D. Colen covered medicine and science, focusing particularly on biomedical ethical issues. In 1984, while the Science Editor at Newsday, Colen was one of two team leaders on Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage of a national bioethical story. In addition to his career in daily journalism and in corporate and institutional communications, Colen has written more than half-a-dozen books on medically related subjects.
Hilary Swift is a freelance photojournalist, writer, and frequent contributor to the New York Times. Based out of New York City, Swift is interested in documenting social issues, breaking news, and politics.
The judging was recorded and will be made available on our YouTube channel as the finalists are announced for membership to gain feedback and insights from the judges.
We look forward to once again showcasing the absolute best of the Canadian photojournalism industry in a time where truth in visuals is more important than ever. The winners will be announced live ahead of the 2023 AGM
NPAC/APPC 2023 AGM date set
The NPAC/APPC 2023 Annual General Meeting is scheduled to take place Sunday, May 28.
This will follow the live announcements of the winners for the National Pictures of the Year Awards. The recent years have been challenging for the organization, our membership, and the industry as a whole and we welcome our members to engage with the organization as we steer a path forward.
More details will be announced as plans come together for the AGM.
NPAC/APPC
Marcus Yam is a roving Los Angeles Times foreign correspondent and staff photographer. Born and raised in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, he left a career in aerospace engineering to become a photographer. His goal: to take viewers to the frontlines of conflict, struggle and intimacy. His approach is deeply rooted in curiosity, dignity and persistence. In 2022, Yam won the Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography for images documenting the U.S. departure from Afghanistan that capture the human cost of the historic change in the country. Most recently, he was named the 2023 Robert Capa Gold Medal Winner for his courage and coverage of the war on Ukraine, cited for nuance and poetry. Yam is a two-time recipient of the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Journalism Award, notably in 2019, for his unflinching body of work showing the everyday plight of Gazans during deadly clashes in the Gaza Strip. He was also part of two Pulitzer Prize-winning breaking news teams that covered the San Bernardino, Calif., terrorist attacks in 2015 for the Los Angeles Times and the deadly landslide in Oso, Wash. in 2014, for the Seattle Times. His previous work has also earned an Emmy Award for News and Documentary, World Press Photo Award, DART Award for Trauma Coverage, Scripps Howard Visual Journalism Award, Picture of the Year International’s Newspaper Photographer of the Year Award, Society of Professional Journalists’ Sigma Delta Chi Award, National Headliner Award and an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award. When he’s not working, Yam likes minimizing and organizing his life for efficiency for emergencies.
