PAST WPJA CONTEST JUDGES:

Bruce Moyer - Picture Editor at The Hartford Courant (CT). In 2004, for the third year in a row, Moyer was named Newspaper Picture Editor of the Year by the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA). Numerous other NPPA and SND awards.

Suzette Moyer - Director of Graphics and Design at the Hartford Courant newspaper. Director of Region 1 for the Society for News Design. She has been a designer for more than 16 years, working at publications in Florida, Washington and North Carolina. She has won numerous awards from the Society of News Design, Print magazine and the National Press Photographers Association. She is married to Bruce Moyer, a photo editor at the Courant.

Ami Vitale - Ami is based in India and her photographs and stories from events in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, India and Asia have appeared in publications including Time, Newsweek, Smithsonian Magazine, The New York Times Magazine, The Telegraph Sunday Magazine, Le Figaro Magazine and USA Today among others. She has won numerous awards for work including:
World Press Photos 2003, Third place General News Story
NPPA Best of Photojournalism 2003:Magazine photographer of the year
NPPA Best of Photojournalism 2003:Third place International News Story
Photographer of the Year International: Third place Magazine Division / General Reporting.

Rick Loomis - Rick is a staff photographer at The Los Angeles Times newspaper.
2003 NPPA Best of Photojournalism Photographer of the Year.

Don Bartletti - Don is a staff photographer at The Los Angeles Times newspaper.
2003 Pulitzer Prize Winner.

Alan Berner - Staff photographer at the Seattle Times, has degrees in philosophy and photojournalism from the University of Missouri. The NPPA has named him Region 11 Newspaper Photographer of the Year five times, 1987, 1988, 1989, 2001 and 2003. (R-11 is Washington, Oregon, Alaska, British Columbia, The Yukon and the former Soviet Union). He is the recipient of the Cowles Cup, the Associated Press Sweepstakes Award for Oregon & Washington four times, 1987, 1991, 2001 and 2003.

Sean D. Elliot - Chief Photographer/Photo Assignment Editor - The Day (CT). Currently is the National Secretary for the National Press Photographers Association - NPPA. Past director of Region One for the NPPA. Sean was 1994 Rookie of the Year from the New England Press Association and was NEPA's 2000 Photographer of the Year.

Matt Mendelsohn - Matt was one of the judges for the Wedding Photojournalist Association's 2002 photography contest. We now welcome Matt as one of our members and thank him for his contribution to the WPJA. During his four years at United Press International (UPI), Matt covered hundreds of professional sporting events, spent two months in Saudi Arabia during the Gulf War, and was a part of the first-ever Department of Defense media pool during the invasion of Panama. He also worked for USA Today and learned the finer art of photographing celebrities and spent years covering the White House and Capitol Hill. After a stint as photo editor of the News section of USA Today, Mendelsohn moved upstairs to USA Weekend magazine as Director of Photography. The nation's second-largest circulation magazine, USA WEEKEND reaches 22 million households each Sunday. He left USA Weekend in August, 2001 to pursue freelance assignments.

Amy Deputy - Amy was one of the judges for the Wedding Photojournalist Association's 2002 photography contest. We now welcome Amy as one of our members and thank her for her contribution to the WPJA. Amy received her BA in Photojournalism and Psychology from Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, Kentucky. She was a picture editor at the Baltimore Sun and worked as a photographer at the Baltimore Sun and the Bremerton Sun. She trained at National Geographic, the Sacramento Bee, the Chicago Tribune, and the Register-Guard. Her newspaper photojournalism and picture editing work received national awards from the William Randolph Hearst Foundation, Scripps Howard Foundation, Society of Newspaper Design, University of Missouri's Photographer of the Year, Atlanta Seminar of Photojournalism, The Nikon Foundation, and the National Press Photographers Association. She was also named the National College Photographer of the Year.

Anne Ryan was a staff photographers for USA Today for ten years covering all types of assignments including four trips to the Olympic Games. She has been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize by both the Sun-Sentinel and USA Today.  She has also received numerous photojournalism awards in the Atlanta Seminar, Southern Short Course and a First Place in the Sports Feature category in POY.

Stephanie Grace Lim (San Jose Mercury News), has won acclaim from the Society of News Design, National Press Photographers Association, Associated Press, National Headliners, & Nikon, as well as Michigan College Photographer of the Year and a Pulitzer Prize nomination. Her work has been featured in the illustrious publications of Life, People, Billboard, Photographer’s Forum, and Print Magazine.

Matt McClain (Ventura County Star)
Graduate of Indiana University 1998
2003 NPPA Region 10 Still Photographer of the Year.
2002 NPPA Region 10 Still Photographer of the Year.
2001 NPPA Region 10 Still Photographer of the Year.
Taught at Brooks Institute of Photography (at the new campus for the photojournalism department in Ventura).

Jodie Steck - Assistant Director of Photography/News - The Dallas Morning News. Former Orange County Register Director of Photography. Steck was Assistant Chief of Bureau/Photos for the Associated Press in Los Angeles, and was Photo Editor/Northern California in the San Francisco AP office. She also has been the Director of Photography at The Santa Rosa (Calif.) Press Democrat, a Photo Editor/Supervisor for the Los Angeles AP and a Photo Editor for The New York Times.

Mark Mirko - Mark is a staff photographer at The Hartford Courant newspaper (CT). Recently completed a Knight Fellowship at Ohio University.
2002 NPPA Region 1 Still Photographer of the Year.
Worked as a Staff Photographer at The Palm Beach Post from 1992-2000.
In 1994 Mark was the Region 6 NPPA POY.
In 1992 a team entry of the Post's Photographic coverage of Hurricane Andrew's devastation was a Pulitzer Prize finalist.