The BPPA's Press Photographer of the Year 2021 results


We are delighted to announce that the British Press Photographers’ Association ‘Press Photographer of the Year 2021’ is Chris Furlong of Getty Images.

Here is a full list of the winners.

News – Chris Furlong – Getty Images

Arts & Entertainment – Chris Furlong – Getty Images

Portrait – Peter Jordan – The Sun

Royal – Kelvin Bruce

Business – Phil Wilkinson

Sport Action – Molly Darlington – Action Images/Reuters

Sport Away from the Action – Eddie Keogh – The FA

Essay – Adam Gray – SWNS

Covid-19 – Chris Furlong – Getty Images

Young Photographer – Ryan Jenkinson – Story Picture Agency

And entries judged as Highly Commended:

News – Hannah McKay – Reuters

Arts & Entertainment – Samir Hussein

Portrait – Samir Hussein and Peter Flude

Royal – Chris Jackson – Getty Images

Business – Leon Neal – Getty Images

Sport Action – Clodagh Kilcoyne – Reuters

Sport Away from the Action – Marc Aspland – The Times

Essay – Dan Kitwood – Getty Images

Covid-19 – Hannah McKay – Reuters

Young Photographer – Molly Darlington Reuters/Action Images

Press Photographer of the Year 2021 Chris Furlong said: “I’m absolutely delighted. That’s just brilliant! It’s been another tough year and I’m really very happy to pick up three category awards as well as the main prize. “The BPPA has once again showcased press photography in Britain at its best and it’s great to be recognised by my peers, particularly as it’s a member vote. I’d like to thank them all for voting .”

Chris, who is currently on assignment in eastern Europe, put his success down to hard work, putting in the hours and the miles on the road, having the backing of the team at Getty Images and the support of fellow photographers around the country.

Chair of The BPPA Paul Ellis said: “The standard of photography was excellent once again and I’m delighted to see Chris pick up the main award. The most satisfying aspect of the competition this year is to see a variety of well-established and up and coming photographers picking up awards in all categories. Newspaper staffers, agency photographers and freelancers have all done well. I’ve enjoyed looking at the photographs as they’ve come in and I’d recommend spending time viewing all the entries in the galleries to anyone. I’d like to thank everyone who entered, those members who voted, and of course our friends at Canon who have continued to support this competition and the work of The BPPA.”

The winning galleries and all the entries can be viewed at The BPPA competition website: https://thebppa.zenfoliosite.com/home

The BPPA's Press Photographer of the Year Awards

We’ve all cursed at picture editors’ infamous inability to use the right picture, and know that the very best judges of our work are ourselves, and our peers. What matters is the photography, not what’s on the menu at a gala dinner, and whether you can look like an extra in a Bond film squeezed into a hired black tie jacket.

And last year’s inaugural BPPA Press Photographer of the Year competition, supported by Canon, with over 2400 images entered from 183 photographers, all being judged online by 140 BPPA members, awarding Adam Gray of SWNS the top prize, brought just that, a competition for press photographers designed and judged by press photoraphers.

BPPA Chairman Paul Ellis says “Last year’s competition was an overwhelming success with so many fantastic entries from our membership, showcasing the best of British press photography, and we’re thrilled to be running it again this year”

Launching in February, we’ll be doing it all over again, supported by Canon, with the same categories and the same rules. Entry is open to all press photographers with a modest fee, but will be free for BPPA members. The images will then be judged and voted on by the BPPA membership with a smart trophy prize awarded in each category. Please find a list of the categories below.

News Photographer of the Year

Arts and Entertainment Photographer of the Year

Portrait Photographer of the Year

Royal Photographer of the Year

Business Photographer of the Year

Sport Photographer of the Year (Action)

Sport Photographer of the Year (Away from the Action)

Young Photographer of the Year

Photo Essay Photographer of the Year

Covid-19 Photo Essay Photographer of the Year

Remembering Tom Stoddart

Remembering Tom Stoddart

by Tim Bishop

Tom Stoddart was a very open man in his work, ready to generously share his experiences, his knowledge, his thoughts and wisdom from a remarkable career at the very front of Fleet Street’s finest, working for so many differing news organisations and outlets, from national tabloids and broadsheets in the UK, to news magazines and agencies all over the world.

So yesterday it was for me, and so many others, a profound sense of shock when I was called by The BPPA Secretary Neil Turner with the news Tom had died. Neil asked that the news be kept within a close circle of friends at the request of the family, and that we shouldn’t post anything on social media.

For though Tom was so well known by so many within our profession, spanning generations of photographers, both those who worked alongside him, and those younger who have been inspired and emboldened by meeting him, and seeing his work, in his personal life he was a very private man.

And of all the friends and colleagues I’ve spoken to over the last 48 hours, not one had any idea our friend was fighting cancer.

Tom Stoddart represented the very best of us, working in news from tabloids to broadsheets, and later magazines shooting some astonishing imagery. But he always found time for others, to encourage, to inspire, and back in the day on the road for UK nationals, to help out a colleague.

It means there is so much for so many of us to recall, me joining him on the site of an Alpine coach crash on a Saturday, quietly greeting me with a nod, he with that boxer stance, feet apart, and looking away back and forth as he staccato de-briefed me in his strong Geordie voice, his pictures safely filed to the office deadline for his paper The Sunday Times. He had no special reason to help this young guy from his sister paper The Times, but he did, tipping me off on what he thought might make a picture for me ‘Sunday for Monday’.

Later years, after an injury sustained covering a war zone, Tom joined us on the Sunday Telegraph when I worked the picture desk. Tom was doing ‘light duties’, and it was my occasional privilege to brief him, and edit his ‘contacts’. Later I will never forget the pictures he filed to us from Sarajevo and then the first free elections in South Africa. Now exhibited and in books all over the world, these images were a ‘first use’ for us on the Sunday Telegraph and I recall the gasps even from the hardened hacks in our newsroom as they came in.

He was a brilliant photographer with the most extraordinary gift, but never once let you know it.

Jeff Moore, past Chair of The BPPA, remembers the man who never said no when asked if he would get involved in our Association projects, present an award, judge some pictures, attend an event.

“I remember the first time I met Tom and him coming up to me saying that me and him ‘were the youngest.’ Of course I knew he had to be older than me, he’d been a hero to me for a long time, back when I first started photography. I was astounded he was so nice and I was really pleased. He was so encouraging. I didn’t expect him to come up and just start talking to me, as I was then, a young agency photographer just starting.”

Peter Summers, The BPPA Young Photographer of the Year, recalls “Tom was always there to offer support and encouragement, and how it was a real boost seeing he’d messaged you about a photo or liked something on Instagram or Twitter.”

A former picture editor back then new to his role at The Sunday Times remembers being alarmed with having to brief Tom with an exceptionally dull diary job on a Saturday morning. He’d just had a big row with another contract photographer who had turned the assignment down, and in a typical busy desk style, he called the next name on the list. “Tom listened in silence, he knew it was crap, I knew it was crap, but it had to be done. He didn’t complain or comment. But there was an ominous silence and I had already had a slagging off from one of our ‘star photographers’. Ok, Tom said, but send a bike. It was his way of telling me he was doing me a favour without making me feel a complete arse.”

Sir Don McCullin said that “I hear this news with great sadness. Not only a friend, but Tom was one of the great documentary photographers of his generations with an honesty and compassion that shown through his work.”

Jeff Moore recalls “. I don’t think I ever had a conversation with Tom about photography. But as a true freelance, Tom truly only worked for the people he photographed. His work was for them to tell them their story. Everything he did had integrity and humanity. Not only a great photographer but a fine human being.”

“But though he didn’t tell me this being around him and seeing his pictures I know this to be true….”

“Whether joyful or a moment of terror when people allow you into their lives you kind of have a contract with that person. You have to be truthful and honest and use your integrity to tell the story.”

“Tom Stoddart made thousands of those contracts in his career and he never broke it once.”

Tom Stoddart, documentary photographer, supporter of The BPPA, died 17th November 2021, aged 67.

Women in Photojournalism

Protesters clash with police at the Barton Moss fracking site, Manchester.

Protesters clash with police at the Barton Moss fracking site, Manchester. Photo: Lynne Cameron/PA.

When the association was mentioned in an open letter talking about Gender in Photojournalism The BPPA’s Vice Chair Lynne Cameron said in her response that “The Board of The BPPA welcomes constructive input from anyone who wants to help to promote and inspire great photography. If you have ideas on what more can be done on the issues raised then please get in contact with me or any of the other members of our Board.”

We are very happy to report that we have received notification of two things that are happening that will make a positive contribution to women in particular and diversity in general in photojournalism.

FotoDocument.org have announced the launch of their 2019 Women’s FotoReportage Award in honour of Marilyn Stafford. This year’s award will be supported for the first time by Nikon. You can read the press release below or you can visit their website here.

Photo Forum are hosting a panel discussion on the subject of diversity in photography chaired by Helen Healy, Head of Pictures at the Financial Times with photographers Anna Gordon, Suzanne Plunkett and Chin We. The venue is theprintspace, 74 Kingsland Road, London, E2 8DL on Tuesday 8th October 2019 and the start time is 7:00pm. You can read more here on the Photo Forum website

The FotoReportage Award press release says:

£2000 will be granted to a professional woman photographer towards the completion of a compelling and cohesive documentary photo essay which addresses an important social, environmental, economic or cultural issue, whether local or global.

The work should, in part, showcase positive solutions to any issues it raises in order to contribute to constructive photojournalism, in line with the wishes of Marilyn Stafford and the aims of FotoDocument. The Award is reserved solely for documentary photographers working on projects which are intended to make the world a better place and which may be unreported/under-reported.

Women from any stage of their careers are welcome to apply, whether emerging, mid-career or established. They must already have started the photo essay for which they are seeking funding and be able to show work in progress. In addition, they must have already completed at least one other documentary photo essay to demonstrate track record prior to applying for funding. Entrants must be over 18, they may be any nationality and based anywhere in the world. It is free to submit.

Submissions will be reviewed by panel including: Rebecca Conway – 2017 FotoAward winner, Nina Emett – Director of FotoDocument, Rebecca Newton – PR & Social Media Manager Nikon and Marilyn Stafford herself among others.

One overall winner will receive The Marilyn Stafford FotoReportage Award of £2000 towards the completion of their project.

The final work will feature on the FotoDocument and Nikon websites and will be publicised via social media.

Partners will collectively endeavour to gain coverage for the final work in the international media, without any guarantee of this outcome.

Short-listed applicants will have at least one of their images profiled on the FotoDocument and Nikon websites and publicised via social media.

There will be a screening of the 2019 FotoAward winner’s work at the launch of the Marilyn Stafford FotoReportage Award 2020 to celebrate International Women’s Day on 10 March 2020 at the Nikon School in central London.

Submissions close at 5pm on 15 November 2019.


Michael Graae : Reporting from Libya

You may think that because the war is over, it is much safer and easier to report from Libya, but that is not necessarily the case. This post is written after my third trip to the country, the first being in February 2011 at the start of the war and the second in November 2011, one month after the death of Colonel Gaddafi.
After waiting almost a month to get my visa, I finally had it in hand. I spent the next few days getting ready and packing. First order of business was to buy insurance that covers war zones through Reporters Without Borders. Secondly, I got my two medical kits together. One contained basic medication such as paracetamol, immodium, plasters, etc. The other was a much more intense emergency kit containing syringes, a blood transfusion kit, extra needles, gloves, bandages, and a tourniquet, among others.
I also packed a set of body armour. I own a soft armour vest, which protects against any handgun round, shotgun pellets, and most knives. The soft armour is made of Kevlar, which gram for gram is five times stronger than steel. However, you are totally out of luck if anyone shoots you with an AK-47 or any kind of rifle. In order to protect against rifle rounds, you need hard armour plates. As these are £200 plus per plate, I borrowed them from a friend. They weigh 1.8 kg each and you need two of them. Each plate can stop six rounds from an AK-47. I’m sure it could probably stop seven or eight rounds, but I wouldn’t want to be the one to test it! As a whole the vest weighs a bit over 10 kg, and that is using ultra lightweight plates. I also brought a NIJ IIIa ballistic helmet for good measure, also borrowed from the same generous, safety concious friend. Whilst I never wore it, I was very happy to have it!
Importantly, for communication within Libya, I packed an iPhone which was to used for tweeting, shooting video and recording audio, a Blackberry (unlocked to use a local SIM card…), a small Nokia mobile phone as a backup and a satellite phone. I did not pack a BGAN (Broadband Global Area Network) which is what the BBC and other networks use to report live from anywhere in the world. Photographers also use them to file, but it is incredibly expensive if you the one footing the bill. It costs £1000 to buy, then £4 plus per megabyte sent or received. Very quickly I could easily rack up a few hundred pounds  BGAN bill in a day or two, so it is best to stick to the mobile/broadband basics.
Once packed it was time to head to the airport. I usually carry on my body armour, but was forced by the airline to check it, fortunately they let me keep my 15 kg camera bag…
Tripoli Airport is semi functional. The gates didn’t work and you needed to use air stairs to get on and off of the plane. It looks like it hadn’t been cleaned in years. And don’t use the bathrooms….by far the worst airport bathroom I have ever experienced! I was quickly through immigration but was unfortunately stopped for a bag search which is incredibly time consuming. One of the passengers who I got talking to on the plane, was returning to Libya for the first time in 30 years and I was kicking myself for not being there for the moment he returned. However, he was very generous and invited me over for dinner and offered me a ride to my hotel.
Once checked into my hotel, it was time to find working broadband, as my hotel didn’t have it. Even if I was lucky enough to have it, the broadband in my last hotel was practically useless to file on. My goal was to find broadband relatively close to Martyr’s Square in Tripoli. It was extremely challenging to file without a BGAN, and almost comically, I reached Plan H before I got success………!

Plan A: Use broadband at the cafe around the corner from my hotel and the square.
Result: Impossibly slow.
Plan B: Find an open wifi network.                                                                                    Result: Found one, but told off by an old man.
Plan C: Use an internet cafe.                                                                                              Result: Can only use their computers and they didn’t have FTP (File Transfer Protocol).
Plan D: Use WiMax (like long range wifi…..)
Result: USB dongle not Apple Macbook compatible
Plan E: Use a 3G USB dongle.                                                                                          Result: Network not working……
Plan F: Pay a business to use their internet.                                                                      Result: 1LYD per hour, but not open on 17/02/2012 (the big day)
Plan G: Use Al-Arabyia’s internet in Martyr’s Square.
Result: Success! Until they packed up and left….while I was in the middle of uploading files…
Plan H: Use the internet at my fixer’s house.                                                                     Result: Working! Though slow and a 10min drive from the square.

On the big day, Friday, I spent much of the day in and around Martyr’s Square alternating between down in the square and up on one of the former intelligence buildings, where I was using Al-Arabyia’s internet connection. It was an amazing experience to be in the square with the 15,000 or so people celebrating. A number of women asked to have their photos taken during the celebrations, which I of course did. It is quite rare to have the opportunity to photograph women in the Arab world, so I took every opportunity I had.

Even with broadband on the roof it was difficult to file…and not because of the connection. Lets just say electrical wiring in Libya isn’t up to any sort of standard. Because my laptop battery was low, I needed to stay plugged in while editing to let it charge. Unfortunately, my laptop is metal and there was only one available outlet, which shocked me every time I touched the computer. It wasn’t bad, but was enough to cause my fingers to convulse and give a nice prickly feeling. I had to work through it though as I had no other choice and was very happy when I was done editing! In addition to being electrocuted whilst editing, I had to keep one eye on my surroundings. There was no gunfire in the air as it has been banned, but people were launching fireworks in all directions and some were exploding just metres from the building! I did my final upload around midnight, which was interrupted when Al-Arabyia packed up and went home, pulling the broadband in the middle of an upload!

While on the rooftop I met a commander in the Army who insisted on showing my photos of special forces training. I asked if I could come along on Sunday and photograph them. He said that was OK with him. However, he neglected to tell me they were on holiday until Thursday and I was to be in Benghazi by then.
Saturday evening, one of my fixers, Mego, took me to a street party in Tripoli. It was yet again a huge party atmosphere complete with western music, lights, homemade flamethrowers with lots and lots of horn honking. I was even offered alcohol, which is illegal in Libya. I didn’t take up the offer as much of it is homebrewed and will likely kill you because it contains methanol! All in all it was a lot of fun and quite the experience to party with them and something that never would have been allowed during Gaddafi’s regime.

Sunday morning, I booked a ticket to Benghazi and then walked around Ba Al-Azizia, Gaddafi’s former compound, with my other fixer, Mo. The destruction was immense. Almost all of it was destroyed by NATO bombing. Surprisingly, the few buildings still standing had been occupied by families and were being converted into homes. After a few hours taking photos, it was time for dinner and to head to the airport on what was the last flight of the day. To say security is lax would be an understatement. Bag isn’t weighed, your boarding pass is blank and it really isnt a problem if you are travelling with loads of liquids and set off the metal detector!

My trip to Benghazi was mainly to see people who helped me during the war against Gaddafi, who I hadn’t seen in almost a year. But I was also trying to photograph some of the military training I wasn’t able to in Tripoli. After two days of getting the runaround between both militias and the NTC Army, I was allowed to photograph at a NTC base in Benghazi where recruits were being trained and also signing up to join the fledgling force, albeit very reluctantly. They agreed to let me photograph as long as I didn’t disclose the exact location, write any names and show them the photos before I left the base, to which I agreed. The base commander took me and my translator around the base and I got some standard photos of people being trained. However, upon leaving we were stopped by a man other than the base commander and I was forced to delete the photographs in front of him because I didn’t have the correct paperwork. Of course no one could tell me exactly the kind of paperwork I needed, or where it could be obtained…!? I was also threatened by one of the men, who somehow knew who I was, which was a bit disconcerting, saying if I didn’t return with the correct paperwork I would disappear along with the papers. He also claimed to have some of my camera gear, which was taken at gunpoint by pro-Gaddafi forces in late February of last year!? It just got weirder and weirder! It wasn’t covered under my insurance, so of course I wanted to get it back, but after being threatened by him, I decided it wasn’t worth pursuing……
Annoyed, but not really frightened, we left. The photographs have been recovered from the memory card, but won’t be published. I spent the evening at the war museum in Benghazi, letting off some stress and playing around with the fully functional, but not loaded, rocket launchers and other home-built weaponry at the museum.
My translator told me the same man who threatened me came looking for me to talk to me and I was a bit unsure whether or not I would be stopped at the airport or found when I left my hotel, but thankfully I made it through security and on to the plane. Finally, as the engines roared and the wheels left the ground, I could breathe a sigh of relief…but not for too long as my translator wasn’t leaving the country for another few days. Thankfully, he made it out and his family still in Benghazi are also safe.
You may also be wondering, what does a trip like this actually cost!? Well I’ve totalled up the costs for you below:
Flights from London to Tripoli via Cairo, Benghazi via Cairo, to London : £426.00
Flight from Tripoli to Benghazi : £30.00Flight from Tripoli to Benghazi : £30.00
Hotels : £450.00
Food : £100.00

Satellite phone minutes : £75.00
Visa : £100.00
Total : £1181.00

Note : This doesn’t include costs for fixers, drivers, translators etc, as mine were friends and didn’t cost me anything, besides feeding and housing them when travelling. However, they generally cost around $100 per day.