Photo by Carolyn Van Houten. “Serenity Bamberger floats in the Little Blanco River along their property on August 18, 2015 in Blanco, Texas. Three months prior, over Memorial Day, the same river flooded their home and business destroying the majority of the family’s belongings and source of income. The Memorial Day weekend flooding, which affected Texas and Oklahoma, killed 24 people according to The Associated Press.”
Carolyn Van Houten, a staff photojournalist with the The San Antonio Express-News “has been named Newspaper Photographer of the Year in the Pictures of the Year International contest” (via NY Times). She’s 25 and graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill a year ago.
Regional newspaper photographers can enter the contest in two divisions. The top winners “are most often entrants who travel far from their homes to cover dramatic events. Those doing strong work in their own communities, unless they live in a war zone, are more likely to be passed by.” This makes Van Houton’s win unusual.
For a slideshow of winning photographs, a list of other division winners and more on this, please go here.
