Times’ Calvert named top photojournalist

THE WASHINGTON TIMES

Mary F. Calvert, a photographer for The Washington Times, yesterday was named photojournalist of the year for smaller newspaper markets by the National Press Photographers Association.

“The National Press Photographers Association is a very prestigious organization made up of thousands of talented photographers. I am very proud of being a member of the organization and to be recognized with this award,” Ms. Calvert said.

She was honored for a portfolio of 41 pictures taken last year that included images that accompanied three reports about sex selection in India, a medical condition called Prader-Willi syndrome in which people eat themselves to death, and an incontinence problem called obstetrical fistula, which plagues many malnourished Ethiopian women after they give birth.

The feature about obstetrical fistula “was the first story that really mattered to me a lot,” said Ms. Calvert, who has been with The Washington Times nine years. “I found it and suggested it. Wild horses couldn’t have driven me away from that story.

“I was really happy to do a couple of stories that mattered. It made me realize the importance of advocative journalism.”

The winning portfolio also includes several individual photographs, including one called “Monkey See, Monkey Do,” which caught two sprightly monkeys in midleap atop a weathered wall in India, and a photo of exuberant U.S. Naval Academy midshipmen tossing their hats at graduation.

It was the ninth award this year for Ms. Calvert, 48, of Annapolis. In late January, she won first place in the annual White House News Photographers Association’s Eyes of History contest for a smaller version of the same portfolio that won yesterday. The White House competition recognizes the best political, news and sports images produced by national news organizations.

She also won second place overall as Photographer of the Year in the White House contest and took first place in the pictorial category for “Monkey See, Monkey Do.”

Ms. Calvert says she has been a professional photographer for nearly 20 years. After graduating from San Francisco State University, she took a job with a small newspaper called the Hayward (Calif.) Daily Review, part of the Alameda Newspaper Group. She later spent five years at the Oakland (Calif.) Tribune before coming to The Times.

The NPPA’s award for best photojournalist in a small market is for photographers who work at a newspaper with a circulation of less than 115,000.