I never remember when the selections are made, but sometime each year I track down the POYi (Pictures of the Year International) website, set aside some time, and click my way through hundreds of outstanding photos from around the world. This year, I wasn’t too far off, as the awards for 2011 were handed out in February. The Winners’ Gallery is a front door to links for all the winning photos and collections. Or if you’d like a few side doors, below are just some of the collections that focus on global and cross-cultural topics.
And for those of you who figure that the Pulitzer Prize winners are the best of the best, they’re in the POYi collection, too. Just announced yesterday, the Pulitzer for Breaking News Photography went to Massoud Hossaini, for his heartbreaking photo “Kabul Bombing,” and the award for Feature Photography went to Craig F. Walker, for “Welcome Home: The Story of Scott Ostrom,” which tells the story of an Iraq war veteran with PTSD who has returned to the States.
There’s so much at POYi to see. Not only does it take a while to wander around the links and look at the photos, there’s plenty of descriptive text, and then sometimes you just have to take some time to let the images sink in. Powerful images. Poignant images. And sometimes shocking images (so viewer discretion is advised).
Here are those side doors:
- Japan Earthquake
- Arab Uprisings
- Circo El Salvador [circus performers]
- The Tuareg—Fading Kings of the Sahara
- Famine in the Horn of Africa
- Too Young to Wed: The Secret World of Child Brides
- Famine in North Korea
- Menonos [Mennonites in Bolivia]
- Little Voice—Underage Sex Workers of Daulatdia
- Behind the Curtains of 21st Century Communism
- Polio’s Line in the Sand [Nigeria]
[photo: “Behind the Enemy Lines,” by Mauricio Ulloa, used under a Creative Commons license]
Clearing Customs 