From the battleground states of the U.S. election campaign to the real battlefields of Iraq and Africa, Washington Post photographers roamed the nation and the world last year, capturing images that won all four top spots in the overall portfolio category of the 2004 White House News Photographers' Association awards -- as well as photographer of the year for first-place winner Andrea Bruce Woodall.
Today, washingtonpost.com publishes a gallery of this work, bringing the portfolios together in one place for the first time. The gallery also includes award-winning photos in other categories and by other Washington Post photographers. The awards were announced in Washington Feb. 6.
The photos illustrate topics ranging from everyday life in the United States to violence in Haiti and the Gaza Strip, elections in Afghanistan, the despair of Sudanese refugees and the devastation wrought by an Iranian earthquake. They include -- in Woodall's winning portfolio -- scenes from the war in Iraq and a rare glimpse into the life of an Iraqi prostitute.
Woodall, 31, had previously been named the association's photographer of the year for her 2002 work. The association gives out one of professional photojournalism's premier awards.
Jahi Chikwendiu took second in the portfolio category, Michael Robinson-Chavez placed third, and Carol Guzy won the Award of Excellence.
Woodall, originally of West Lafayette, Ind., said her year had brought things "full circle" because she had photographed the Iraq war, elections in Afghanistan, U.S. soldiers both coming home and in Iraq, and had spent a lot of time with Iraqi civilians. Her goal, she said, is to take "intimate" photographs.
"I like to be close to people, almost like community journalism, but on an international scale," she said.
Woodall said her favorite photograph in her portfolio submission was of an Iraqi woman who went into prostitution to support her large family after her husband and brother were killed in the recent violence. The photo, which followed others of the woman preparing for work and in bed with a client, shows her being kissed by her 4-year-old son.
Woodall, who has been a Washington Post staff photographer since 2001, also won first place in the news picture story category for photos of Afghans rallying and voting on election day in that country. She also placed first in the single image feature category for a photo of Iraqi women protesting the violence in their Baghdad neighborhood, and took second in the feature picture story category for her series of photos of the Iraqi prostitute.
Robinson-Chavez won the single image first prize in international news for his photo of Palestinians paying their last respects to the late Yasser Arafat at his compound in Ramallah. Juana Arias took first place in domestic news for her photo of the child of a murder victim.
The political photo of the year went to Liz O. Baylen of the Washington Times for a picture of John Kerry awaiting the start of President Bush's inauguration.
-- Michelle Boorstein and William Branigin
