Photographer of the Year, First Place at the POYi Awards

Rick Shaw, director of Pictures of the Year International, called me last night to inform me that I had won the Photographer of the Year Award. My portfolio of 50 winning images can been seen on the POYi website here.

In 2008, I was the runner-up for this award. The first place prize that year went to John Moore (my former boss when we both shot for The Associated Press).

The POYi awards have been given annually since 1944. Past winners of this honor include Alfred Eisenstaedt, Larry Burrows, Eddie Adams, David Alan Harvey, David Burnett, James Brandenburg, James Nachtwey, Steve McCurry, James Stanfield, Eugene Richards, Christopher Morris, Anthony Suau, Yunghi Kim, Chien-Chi Chang, John Stanmeyer, Jon Lowenstein, Marcus Bleasdale and Christopher Anderson.

The judges this year reviewed more than 42,000 images. The awards ceremony will be held at the Annenberg Space for Photography in Los Angeles in June, 2010.

*UPDATE, March 1: Photo District News posted an article with more information and winners in the other POYi categories.