Photo Awards 2022
(Works Produced in 2021)
Excellence in Photojournalism, Single Photo: Lindsey Wasson
Excellence in Photojournalism, Photo Story: Paul Kuroda
Excellence in Photojournalism, Single Photo - Works Produced in 2021
Lindsey Wasson, “Reunited,” Reuters
ABOUT THE PROJECT: Yoshia Uomoto, 98, reacts as her son Mark Uomoto and niece Gail Yamada surprise her with their first in-person visit in a year after indoor visitation restrictions due to coronavirus disease (COVID-19) were lifted at Nikkei Manor, an assisted living facility primarily serving Japanese American seniors, in Seattle, Washington, U.S. March 30, 2021. Residents, who have all been fully vaccinated, can visit with family for an hour at a time.
RUNNER-UP: Ringo Chiu, “A Protester Spits,” Agence France-Presse
Lindsey Wasson
(Freelance Photographer)
LINDSEY WASSON is a Seattle-area freelance photographer covering news and sports. Her work for Reuters has been featured in TIME's 100 Photos of 2021 and has taken her to the Tokyo 2020 and Beijing 2022 Olympics. Lindsey's other frequent clients include Getty, The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Today and the Seattle Sounders. She holds a BFA in Photography from Seattle University and was previously a staff photographer at The Seattle Times, where she earned an SPJ Sigma Delta Chi Award and was part of a team awarded the 2015 Breaking News Reporting Pulitzer.
Excellence in Photojournalism, Photo Story - Works Produced in 2021
Paul Kuroda, “Minamata Today,” The Los Angeles Times
ABOUT THE PROJECT: Fifty-year revisit to W. Eugen Smith coverage of the citizens of Minamata protest against Chisso who had poisoned their bay with mercury causing thousands of deaths and disability to people who are still suffering.
The struggle over Minamata is far from finished. At least 2,000 victims have died. Today courts are forcing the government to recognize more victims, which some estimate at as many as 30,000. Many are confined to wheelchairs or beds, complaining that diagnosis and treatment are haphazard and inadequate. Lawsuits for further compensation continue. The government still refuses to conduct an epidemiological study to determine the full scope of the poisoning.
RUNNER-UP: Tim Tai, “Last Run,” The Philadelphia Inquirer
Paul Kuroda
Photojournalist PAUL KURODA is passionate about documenting people living on the margins. Mining his home state of California, he has told the stories of terrors faced by Asian and Latino gangs, of struggles endured by migrant farmworkers, and of the torn loyalties immigrants wedged between cultures face when they isolate themselves from the homeland to adapt to a new territory. The best of his images show an empathetic eye and an attraction to capturing the human drama, with his lens focused on the experiences of those who exist away from the mainstream. Quick, persuasive, and original, Kuroda has worked at the Orange County Register, the Torrance Daily Breeze, and the Associated Press, along with stints at National Geographic and Time magazine. He is a two-time Pulitzer finalist and the winner of the 1990 NPPA/Pictures of the Year "National Newspaper Photographer of the Year" with a portfolio detailing the dangerous journey of illegal immigration Diego-Tijuana border, the busiest land-border crossing in the world. Kuroda was born in Fresno and now lives in the San Francisco Bay area.
