Times Photographers Honored

The Los Angeles Times and its photography staff won 21 awards in the University of Missouri’s Pictures of the Year International competition, the most given any newspaper at the 61st annual event.

Staff photographer Carolyn Cole was named Newspaper Photographer of the Year, the highest honor for the newspaper division. Cole traveled the world in 2003, documenting the war in Iraq, the conflict in Liberia and the California wildfires. A statement from competition organizers said the judges were impressed by Cole’s achievement in “bringing humanity to times of violence and upheaval.”

The Times also received the Angus McDougall Overall Excellence in Editing Award, “in recognition of the newspaper’s consistently high level of work in picture editing and presentation.”

Colin Crawford, the Times’ assistant managing editor for photography, said the awards reflected the value the paper places on news photography.

“It’s a real tribute to the current leadership of [Editor] John Carroll and [Managing Editor] Dean Baquet and their commitment to visual journalism,” Crawford said. “There’s a commitment to displaying great photography, just as there’s a commitment to running great stories.”

The Missouri School of Journalism, the world’s first journalism school, launched the Pictures of the Year competition in 1944.