CATEGORY DESCRIPTION
A portfolio of no more than 40 images.

1st Place
Rick Loomis
Los Angeles Times

Caption: Iraq--Rick Loomis with U.S. Marines heading north toward Baghdad on April 4th, 2003.
Credit: Photo by Jeremiah Rogers/U.S. Navy
Rick Loomis: "After 16 days in the desert, not far from Baghdad upon receiving the news of his winnings Loomis's first thoughts were, "I feel and look like hell, but my spirits are how and this has totally boosted me. I really appreciate this and am shocked beyond words. I have entered this contest for year, and years and years." The following day via an email he wrote, "I know there is always an amazing amount of good work done each year by the photographers of the NPPA so I am honored to be named among them. I put a lot of energy and heart into the stories I covered last year in Afghanistan and am enthused to see that body of work recognized. I know these moments of recognition among peers are few and far between so I will cherish this one for a long while to come.
Colin Crawford, Director of Photography
"I am tremendously thrilled for Rick, he is a great photographer and has done some incredible work . He is very deserving of this honor. While his showing in the 2003 BOP competition may be a surprise to some, it isn't surprising to us. He made Afghanistan his backyard and created some wonderful images. Rick is a great guy."

Honorable Mention
Jamie Francis
St. Petersburg Times

Newspaper Photographer of the Year

1st Place
Rick Loomis
Los Angeles Times

Honorable Mention
Jamie Francis
St. Petersburg Times

JUDGES' COMMENTS
"This is a wonderful photographer with some fabulous single images. We looked at a lot of portfolios. A lot of photographers sent either great individual pictures and weak stories, or great stories and weak pictures. This was a combination of both. It stood out from the others. Fairly well edited. It's a nice combination of the two requirements: stories and single images. Unfortunately, a lot of the portfolios we saw were edited very poorly. A lot of the domestic stories were of poor quality or poorly edited."
BETH A. KEISER, Photojournalist

"We differed sharply on our opinions. Three of us loved it, two hated it. The portraiture was good. He showed he could do different things. Technically it's quite good."
MICHAEL D. SARGENT, Vice President/News Services, Getty Images

"He made a varied set of pictures that stand out. Just because your newspaper buys you a ticket to an exotic place doesn't mean you're going to make great pictures. We would have liked to have seen a great domestic picture series. None of them knocked our socks off. What I heard from my photography teachers was that if anybody can say anything bad about a picture in your portfolio, it's not a good portfolio."
ROBERT SEALE, Staff Photographer, The Sporting News

"It follows what we saw throughout: poor editing, poor technical quality and gimmicks."
BETH A. KEISER, Photojournalist