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#flashHeader{visibility:visible !important;}Top honors in the 70th annual Pictures of the Year International contest went to Paolo Pellegrin of Magnum Photos for freelance photographer of the year and Paul Hansen of the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyhete for newspaper photographer of the year.
The Denver Post received the prestigious Angus McDougall Overall Excellence in Editing Award. The New York Times was named best newspaper.
The awards were overshadowed by controversy over a photograph (below) that was included in Mr. Pellegrin’s winning entry.
There were inaccuracies in the submitted caption of one image of a former Marine combat photographer, Shane Keller, holding a rifle that was part of a photo essay on the Crescent â€" a rough part of Rochester. In addition, a description for the series was lifted from a decade-old article in The New York Times. The disputed caption and story summary have been removed from the POYi site and replaced by different information provided by Mr. Pellegrin.
On the Web site BagNewsNotes, Mr. Keller, a former photography student at the Rochester Institute of Technology, said that the photo misrepresented him, and he raised questions about whether the image was a directed photo, made to look like a found moment. Mr. Pellegrin has vigorously denied the charges of misrepresentation and of staging a photograph, although he admitted mistakes in captioning.
On Wednesday morning, a statement was posted on the POYi contest site next to Mr. Pellegrin’s images from the Crescent, which also won second place for issue reporting stories. It reads:
The spirit of Pictures of the Year International is to honor photojournalists and celebrate their outstanding documentary photography. We do not probe for reasons to disqualify work. POY understands that errors may occur in captions submitte by photographers. We are happy to make corrections and acknowledge the errors. Story summaries and captions are “published†when posted on the POY website. Any misunderstanding regarding self-authorship for “published†captions or story summaries will be corrected by the photographer. POY affirms the awards.
Mr. Pellegrin’s pictures from Rochester also took second prize in news stories in the World Press Photo contest. That organization affirmed the award in a statement on Tuesday.
Rick Shaw, the director of Pictures of the Year International, said in a telephone interview that the quality of the captions on contest entries vary widely and that he received e-mails every year from photographers asking if â€" and why â€" they need to provide captions for the contest.
“It’s photojournalism,†Mr. Shaw said. “It’s the mix between words and pictures. It provides context for the image. It’s the balance between aesthetics and content.â€
The conte! st’s ru! les require that all photographs include a caption. Mr. Shaw says he intends to update the entry rules for next year, adding language about self-authorship and accuracy, in captions or story summaries.
“It has to be to the level of being published material,†he said. “Part of that is probably a mistake on our part, in not being diligent about explaining that when a caption or story summary is submitted to POYi, it needs to be to the standard of published work.â€
Paolo Pellegrin/Magnum Photos Mr. Pellegrin’s image of Shane Keller has sparked controversy. Mr. Pellegrin was photographer of the year in the freelance/agency category; he won second place in the issue reporting picture story category, the entry for which included this photo as well.POYi, a progam of the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute at the Missouri School of Journalism, wrapped up its three-week judging period on Tuesday with the announcement of the winners of the most important awards. Winning entries are posted on the POYi Web site piecemeal as the judging of each category concludes. While the photos are posted, the photographers’ names are withheld until the judging is finished.
The Los Angeles Times won for best Web site. Ezra Shaw of Getty Images won sports photographer of the year, and Liz O. Baylen of The Los Angeles Times was named multimedia photographer of the year.
The New York Times won for best e-project for “Snowfall: The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek.â€! The Tim! es also won first place for feature multimedia story for “The Vanishing Mind Series, in Love and Loss.â€
Damon Winter, staff photographer of The New York Times, won second place for newspaper photographer of the year. Tomás Munita
 was second in the freelance photographer of the year category, for a portfolio that consisted mainly of his work for The New York Times. And Becky Hanger of The Times won first place, second place and third place for sports story editing.
David Alan Harvey’s “Based on a True Story†received the award for best photography book.
Mr. Hansen also took top prize in the2012 World Press Photo Contest for a dramatic image, of a funeral procession in Gaza. He was previously the POYi newspaper photographer of the year in 2009.
This year’s photography contests have been tinged by scandal. On Sunday night, the White House News Photographers Association announced that it had stripped the Washington Post photographer Tracy Woodward of an award of excellence that he had received in the association’s 2013 Eyes of History photo contest in the sports feature/reaction category because of digital manipulation.
Though POYi has received some criticism for the way it handled Mr. Pellegrin’s entry, Mr. Shaw said he welcomed the conversation.
“It is an important dialogue,†he said. “The question of digital processing in today’s world is an important dialogue. Accuracy ! in the te! xt that accompanies your images is an important dialogue.â€
Paul Hansen/Dagens Nyheter Mr. Hansen’s photo of the funeral of Suhaib Hijazi and his brother Muhammad in Gaza was part of a portfolio that won him photographer of the year in the newspaper category.Follow @JamesEstrin and @nytimesphoto on Twitter. Lens is also on Facebook.
