(February 23, 2006) – The Associated Press is reporting from Kapolei, Hawaii, that they have been refused credentials to cover the Ladies Professional Golf Association Fields Open golf tournament in an ongoing dispute over new credential restrictions on use of its stories and photographs. This morning the National Press Photographers Association voiced support for AP’s refusal to agree to the LPGA’s new credential requirements.

AP says that reporter Jaymes Song and photographer Ronen Zilberman (an NPPA member since 1998) were not allowed on the course to cover practice rounds or access to the media room after refusing to sign an LPGA credential form that contained new restrictions. One of the restrictions AP objects to is that photographers, by signing the form, agree that the LPGA has an unlimited, perpetual right to use their photographs for free.

Read the whole story on NPPA

Posted by Administrator as WNPA Report at 1:11 PM EST

1 Comment »

(2.21.2006) - Competitors interested in submitting images for this year’s WNPA Photographer of the Year competition have less than a week remaining before the submission deadline.

Contest Chair Ron Kuenstler wants to remind everyone that the deadline for submissions is 5pm on February 28th (Tuesday). Be sure to include your twenty-dollar contest entry fee with your image submissions.

Posted by Administrator as 2006 Convention at 11:16 AM EST

No Comments »

(2.18.2006) - The winners gallery for the November 2005 WNPA monthly clip contest results is now online.

Dan Powers of the Appleton Post-Crescent was dominant in this month’s sports clips, and if you view the gallery, you may come to understand why, as Powers came through with quality images from NFL football and prep volleyball.

Mike De Sisti also came through with a number of clip wins this month, managing to earn winning entries in all the categories except feature photo. Anyone aspiring to catch up to his first-place standing had better hope they had their game on in December.

View the November Gallery

See 2005 and 2004 clip contest winners online at WNPAonline’s Clip Contest Page

Posted by Administrator as Clip Contest Update at 5:25 PM EST

No Comments »

(2.17.2006) Summer Photojournalism Internship - The Post-Crescent, Appleton, Wis.

Accepting applications for a three-month internship in the photography department starting this June. We are a 53,000 daily - 69,000 Sunday circulation newspaper located in the Fox Cities of northeastern Wisconsin.

Interns will join our seven-member photo staff who provide strong visual journalism of news, business, feature and sports. Applications should be proficient in contemporary photographic techniques, including the latest digital camera and transmission technology, Adobe PhotoShop, and Macintosh computers.
Photo stories are encouraged.

Applicants must have a valid driver’s license. Salary is $500.00/week. Application deadline: Friday, March 3, 2006.
Email inquires may be directed to Sharon Cekada at: scekada@postcrescent.com

Applicants should send cover letter, resume and portfolio on CD to:

Sharon Cekada, Asst. Photo Editor
The Post-Crescent
306 W. Washington St.
P.O. Box 59
Appleton, WI 54912

Visit us online at: www.postcrescent.com

Posted by Administrator as Job Watch at 6:08 PM EST

1 Comment »

(2-17-2006) Mike De Sisti, a photojournalist with the Appleton Post-Crescent has been steadily producing high-quality video reporting projects over the last couple of years for the newspaper. His work was rewarded by the National Press Photographers Association for his video project on Octoberfest. The video he created was awarded an honorable mention for ‘Best Multimedia Package.’

His video work takes on a wide variety of subjects from soldiers departing for foreign lands to the Experimental Aircraft Association’s annual Fly-In to Powerball fever.

A number of state newspapers are exploring the expanded coverage options that video and audio can bring to their websites. De Sisti’s combination of editing skills and presentation styles make him a unique frontrunner in the state for these still-developing communication forms.

We will feature nine of De Sisti’s video projects over the next several weeks one-by-one. This week, we are presenting “End of an Era,” the story of the last day on the job for Appleton’s last elevator operator.

Posted by Administrator as Webmaster's Column at 1:28 PM EST

1 Comment »

(2.15.2006) The Green Bay Press Gazette’s Evan Siegle is busy covering this year’s olympic games in Turino, Italy for his Wisconsin employer. He’s got a weblog that he updates regularly and an impressive photo gallery that he’s updating on a daily basis.

Siegle is a busy dude, so busy in fact that he forgot about Valentine’s day. But give him a little credit, who hasn’t forgotten about Valentine’s day.

Here’s his post from February 15, which can also be found on the Green Bay Press Gazette Website

Tuesday was a very long day. Again, I waited for three hours to hold my shooting spot for the women’s 500-meter speed skating. The best the U.S. did was 11th by Jennifer Rodriguez.

After an edit from the field, I rushed over to shoot U.S. vs. Finland in women’s hockey at Palasport Olympico. U.S. won 6-3. So my predicted 12-hour day turned into a 14-hour day.

And… it gets worse……not only did I leave my wife and three kids for three weeks to cover the Winter Olympics in romantic Italy, but I forgot the most romantic day of the year.

So HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY Nicole, Alexia and Ella. Ciao. Evan .

Related WNPA Coverage:

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel staffer William Meyer covered the 2002 Winter Olympics. He provided a look into his coverage in a self-narrated photo gallery available on the WNPA site. See Meyer’s experience HERE

Posted by Administrator as WNPA Report at 9:15 PM EST

1 Comment »

WNPA speaker Chris Hondros won a second place for spot news singles in the 2006 World Press Photo Contest with a wrenching photo of a young girl grieving her parents killed by a US patrol. The image can be found at:

Young girl grieves her parents killed by US patrol, Tal Afar, Iraq, 18 January.
Chris Hondros, USA, Getty Images.

Posted by Mark Hoffman as 2006 Convention at 7:35 PM EST

No Comments »

(2.10.2006) NPPA has it. So does POYi. But conspicuously absent from this year’s WNPA contest is a Natural Disaster category.

The NPPA said they added two new topical Natural Disaster categories in order to recognize what they call the great coverage of hurricanes, earthquakes, and other disasters in 2005.

With a number of Wisconsin photojournalists covering natural disasters throughout the United States and the impact they have had on the people in-state, it may led to the conclusion that this year’s WNPA contest is could be a minimum of one category short.

After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, two categories were added to that year’s contest: 9/11 general news and 9/11 spot news. Although only one contest entrant saw the events of that day unfold before them, five different photojournalists representing two different publications earned awards for their coverage.

Posted by Administrator as 2006 Convention at 1:59 AM EST

6 Comments »

(1.30.2006) Winning images from the WNPA October Clip Contest are now viewable in an online gallery. The link has been posted to the Contests Page and is also available here at:

OCTOBER GALLERY

Posted by Administrator as Clip Contest Update at 11:57 AM EST

1 Comment »

Chris Hondros, of Getty Images, who is currently in Iraq will be joining us as a speaker and judge at this year convention March 31 and April 1 in Milwaukee.

Hondros is an American Pulitzer Prize-nominated photojournalist. Born in New York City to immigrant Greek and German parents, he moved to North Carolina as a child. After receiving a degree in English Literature at North Carolina State University in 1993 and conducting his graduate work in photojournalism at Ohio University’s School of Visual Communications, Hondros returned to New York to concentrate on international reporting.

Hondros has photographed in most of the world’s major conflict zones since the late 1990s, including Kosovo, Angola, Sierra Leone, Afghanistan, Kashmir, the West Bank, Iraq, and Liberia. His work has appeared on the covers of magazines such as Newsweek, the Economist, and Stern, and on the front pages of The New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times. He has been awarded several grants and fellowships for his work, including the US Agency for International Development Photojournalism Grant and a 2001 Pew Fellowship for International Reporting at Johns Hopkins University.

Hondros’s images have received dozens of awards, including honors from World Press Photo in Amsterdam, the National Pictures of the Year Competition, the Visa Pour L’Image in France, and the John Faber award from the Overseas Press Club in New York. In 2004 Hondros was a Nominated Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Spot News Photography for his work in Liberia. He lives in New York City, where he is a staff photographer for Getty Images News Service.

Posted by Mark Hoffman as 2006 Convention at 9:48 AM EST

No Comments »