The winners of the 76th annual Pictures of the Year competition, as well as the 73rd College Photographer of the Year contest, will be celebrated during an awards reception and all-day public forum April 26–27 in Columbia, Missouri.

After three weeks of judging, POY judges selected nearly 200 winners in 36 categories. Nearly 40,000 works were submitted, ranging from a single photograph to long-term documentary projects. CPOY judges chose more than 100 winners in 18 categories. Nearly 10,000 entries were submitted from 550 student photographers from 126 colleges and universities in 17 countries.

Of the winning entries in POY and CPOY, six photographers were named Photographer of the Year in their respective categories.

Among the winners were:

• Fabio Bucciarelli was named POY Photographer of the Year. His work has been published by organizations including The New York Times, Al Jazeera, El Pais, Newsweek, Time Magazine and La Repubblica.
• Jessica Phelps, staff photographer of the Newark Advocate in Newark, Ohio, was named POY Newspaper Photographer of the Year.
• Emily Kassie with The Marshall Project was named POY Multimedia Photographer of the Year. Her work has appeared in The New York Times and The Washington Post and on NBC.
• Matt Gade, with The Daily Republic in Mitchell, South Dakota, was named POY Sports Photographer of the Year. His work has been published by The Wall Street Journal, the BBC, ABC World News Tonight and the Los Angeles Times.
• Meaghan Looram, director of photography, and the photo editing staff of The New York Times received the Angus McDougall Overall Excellence in Editing Award. Named for a longtime Missouri School of Journalism faculty member, the award is a traveling Tiffany trophy engraved with the name of the winning publication.
• The New York Times won the POY Documentary Project of the Year category for its “Visual Investigations” video series.
• Adrees Latif of Reuters won the POY Community Awareness Award for his work titled “Central American Migrants.” He received a 2008 Pulitzer Prize in Breaking News Photography .  
• Gabriel Scarlett of Western Kentucky University was named College Photographer of the Year.

A complete listing of all categories and winners is available on the POY and CPOY websites.

There will be an awards reception for both POY and CPOY winners at 6 p.m. Friday, April 26, at Orr Street Studios in Columbia. Award-winning photography from POY and CPOY will be displayed alongside art by local artists. The public is invited to attend the free event, but registration is requested.

“Conversations with Photographers of the Year,” which will include all six Photographers of the Year, will be held on Saturday, April 27, in Smith Forum at the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute. Like the reception, this forum is free and open to the public, but registration is requested.

Public forum schedule (All talks will take place in the Smith Forum at RJI) 

9–9:45 a.m. Matt Gade, POY Sports Photographer of the Year

What does it take for a sports photographer working in a small town to beat out photographers covering the Olympics — twice? Shooting for The Daily Republic in Mitchell, South Dakota, Gade did it by photographing rodeos, prep sports and “Mutton Bustin’.” He was also named Sports Photographer of the Year in 2017.

10–10:30 a.m. Gabriel Scarlett, College Photographer of the Year

Scarlett’s images share the quiet intimacy between men and their families. His images include stories about an immigrant family holding onto normalcy after their father was targeted for deportation and life in a small California community started by African-American farmers.

10:45–11:30 a.m. Jessica Phelps, POY Newspaper Photographer of the Year

Phelps is just one of two staff photographers working at the Newark Advocate in Newark, Ohio. Her images celebrate small-town life, from immigrants making a foreign place their home to the big and small moments of the Shriners’ Little League tournament.
 
11:45 a.m.–1:15 p.m. BBQ luncheon: College Photographer of the Year (McDougal Gallery in Lee Hills Hall, Missouri School of Journalism)

To celebrate college photojournalists, CPOY Director Jackie Bell has curated a selection of winners from the 73rd CPOY contest. We invite all to see the work and enjoy lunch on us.
 
1:30–2:15 p.m. Maksymilian Rigamonti, POY Photography Book of the Year

Authors Maksymilian and Magdalena Rigamonti partnered with publisher Jaroslaw Wlodarczyk to create “Echo,” a unique book designed to unfold quiet photographs that invite contemplation of a brutal World War II massacre of Polish villagers in the Volhynia region in Central and Eastern Europe.
 
2:30–3:15 p.m. Emily Kassie, POY Multimedia Photographer of the Year

Reporting for The New York Times and The Marshall Project, Kassie tackles tough topics like sexual assault, immigration and sex offenders with insight and humanity. Her stories reveal the complexities of seemingly black-and-white issues.
 
3:30–4:15 p.m. Fabio Bucciarelli, POY Photographer of the Year

Bucciarelli covered the biggest news stories of the year: the conflict in Gaza and immigrants trying to cross the U.S.-Mexico border. What made his work stand out, noted the judges, is that Bucciarelli finds the tenderness of small moments within these giant news stories.

About POY

Created in 1944 at the Missouri School of Journalism as The First Exhibition of Spot News and Feature Photography, founder Cliff Edom intended to recognize newspaper and magazine photographers on the World War II home front. It has since evolved into an international competition with more than 40,000 entries annually. It became affiliated with the Missouri School of Journalism’s Reynolds Journalism Institute in 2008. Ethical visual reporting and in-depth storytelling are the hallmarks of these awards, with an educational program that consistently represents the gold standard in photojournalism. POY receives financial support from RJI, the POY endowment and from photographers, editors and publications who enter the annual competition.

About RJI

The Missouri School of Journalism’s Reynolds Journalism Institute opened its doors in 2008 with the mission of strengthening democracy through better journalism. It serves as a research and development hub for the Missouri School of Journalism and forms close collaborations with industry partners that often leverage the enthusiasm and expertise of students and professors. RJI serves as the headquarters for the Pictures of the Year competition.