Craig Walker of The Denver Post Named Photographer of the Year - Newspapers in Pictures of the Year International Competition

Photographer Craig Walker from The Denver Post achieved premier honors as the 2011 Newspaper Photographer of the Year in the 69th annual Pictures of the Year International (POYi) competition.

Walker’s award-winning portfolio was chosen during the first four-day session of the three-week judging period. In honoring Walker’s portfolio, the judges noted a strong balance of powerful aesthetic with solid journalistic content that reflects news events and social issues. Walker’s portfolio presented a stunning project on Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans who suffer from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Two newspaper photojournalists from Copenhagen, Denmark — Morten Germund of Berlingske and Jacob Ehrbahn of Politiken — received 2nd and 3rd place portfolio honors in the Newspaper Photographer of the Year premier category.

The Newspaper Photographer of the Year award is one of two portfolio honors bestowed by POYi each year. The Freelance / Agency Photographer of the Year category will be judged on Wednesday, Feb. 15.

Winning photographs in all categories judged during the first session are posted on the POYi website at www.poyi.org. Winners’ names or affiliations will become official after the conclusion of judging on March 2.

POYi is a program of the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute (www.rjionline.org) at the Missouri School of Journalism.

Selected photographs from Winter’s portfolio are available upon request. For more information, feel free to contact POYi director Rick Shaw at 573-864-7691 or email shawrf@missouri.edu.