© Craig F. Walker, The Denver Post

It’s an intimate portrait of an American teen soldier: Photographer Craig F. Walker accompanied the young Ian Fisher. He watched his  recruitment, his deployment to Iraq and his return from combat – for 27 months. For his work Walker was awarded the Pulitzer Prize.

Walker won with his project “Ian Fisher: American Solider” the Pulitzer Prize in the “Feature Photography” category. The photograph posted above is only one form his project. A detailed version of the project with 83 photographs and a multimedia project can be viewed on the homepage from the Denver Post, Walker’s newspaper. When they found about the prize, Walker and Fisher celebrated together.

© Mary Chind, The Des Moines Register

With a photograph of an unusual rescue Mary Chind from the Des Moins Register won the Pulitzer Prize in the “Breaking News Photography” category. Her photograph shows construction worker Jason Oglesbee, reaching out for a women’s hand in foaming water. Firefighters failed in the attempt to save the woman from a river. So Oglesbee, who was
working at a bridge nearby, was let down on a rope from a tower crane and saved the woman. She and her husband had an accident with a boat, her husband died in the floods.

The Pulitzer Prize is one of the most prestigious US-awards for journalists, authors and artists. It was established in 1917. 2010 was the first year in which the jury awarded a prize to an online publication.

→ Slideshow: 20 Photos

© Pietro Masturzo, Elizabeth Kreutz, Adam Ferguson, Laura Pannack

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The jury of the World Press Photo Contest has selected a photo by the Italian photographer Pietro Masturzo as the World Press Photo of the Year 2009. The picture depicts women shouting in protest from a rooftop in Tehran. Jury chair Ayperi Karabuda Ecer said: „The photo shows the beginning of something, the beginning of a huge story. It adds perspectives to news. It touches you both visually and emotionally, and my heart went out to it immediately.“

The winning photograph is part of a story showing the nights following the contested presidential elections in Iran, when people shouted their dissent from roofs and balconies, after daytime protests in the streets. The story as a whole was awarded first prize in the category People in the News. The jury gave prizes in ten themed categories to 63 photographers of 23 nationalities from.