Conrad Black's finger salute awarded top photo prize
Last Updated: Sunday, April 20, 2008 | 12:15 PM ET
CBC News
A photo of former Canadian media baron Conrad Black giving the finger to reporters during his trial in Chicago has taken top prize for spot news at the second annual National Pictures of the Year awards competition.
The awards are a creation of the News Photographers Association of Canada (NPAC) and winners were judged from more than 2,200 entries.
Conrad Black gives the finger to a member of the media as he arrives at the courthouse for his fraud trial in Chicago in July 2007.
(Dave Chidley/Canadian Press)
The winners were announced at a gala in Vancouver on Saturday night.
The Conrad Black photo was taken by David Chidley of the Canadian Press during the businessman's trial, in which Black was convicted of obstructing justice and defrauding shareholders of his former newspaper company, Hollinger International Inc.
Black is serving a 6½-year sentence at a jail in central Florida.
In the same category, a shot of fighting in the trenches in Afghanistan, taken by freelance photographer Louie Palu, received an honourable mention. The picture was first published by CBCNews.ca as part of the Frontline audio slide show.
Bernard Brault of Montreal's La Presse won two prizes: Photograph of the Year and also Portrait/Personality for his Top Hat in Arch, featuring a security guard standing at the entrance of Oxford University in England.
Brault received honorable mention in the sports and pictorial categories and also was named Photojournalist of the Year.
Other winners included Ryan Taplin of The Halifax Daily News in the General News category for his tense shot of police arresting a free-trade protester, and Jason Franson of The Edmonton Sun in the Feature News division for his picture of a female soldier having some fun swinging on a gym bar.
Ryan Pfeiffer of the Cornwall Standard-Freeholder was handed first prize in the sport action category for his bird's-eye view of a grimacing, injured hockey player lying on the ice.
The Globe and Mail's Peter Power captured the multimedia crown with the Walker Brown story, which highlights the plight of writer Ian Brown's son Walker, who suffers from a rare debilitating condition.
