Most journalists dream of winning a Pulitzer Prize.
Tyler Hicks needs a new dream.
The Westport native and Staples High School graduate earned his 3rd Pulitzer in 7 years today. He shared the award for Breaking News in Photography with 2 fellow New York Times photojournalists. The trio were honored for their images that “captured the resolve of refugees, the perils of their journeys and the struggle of host countries to take them in.”
This photo by Tyler Hicks appears on the Pulitzer Prize website. The caption reads: “After battling rough seas and high winds from Turkey, migrants arrive by rubber raft on a jagged shoreline of the Greek island of Lesbos. Fearing capsize or puncture, some panicked and jumped into the cold water in desperation to reach land. This young boy made it, unlike hundreds of others.” (Photo/Tyler Hicks, The New York Times – October 1, 2015). Click image to enlarge.
Hicks’ previous Pulitzers came in 2009 (as a member of a team, for International Reporting coverage of Afghanistan and Pakistan), and 2014 (for Breaking News Photography, for his stunning shots of the deadly attack by terrorists on a Nairobi shopping center.)
Hicks began working for the Times in 1999, photographing stories throughout Africa. After 9/11, he traveled to Kabul, documenting the city’s liberation from the Taliban. He has returned to Afghanistan often.
Hicks has done award-winning work around the globe, from Haiti to Albania and Kosovo.
Tyler Hicks
On March 16, 2011 Hicks and 3 other reporters — including fellow Times photojournalist and Westporter Lynsey Addario were abducted in Libya. After 6 harrowing days in captivity, they were released. (Click here for more details.)
On Feb. 16, 2012 in Syria, Hicks was with Times Beirut bureau chief Anthony Shadid, when Shadid died of an asthma attack. Hicks helped carry the journalist’s body across the border to Turkey.
When he gets a chance, Hicks visits Westport, where his mother and sister still live. He now calls Kenya home.
But — as his important, eye-opening Pulitzer Prize-winning photos attest — the world’s hot spots are truly his home.
PS: Congrats too to Matt Davies. The 1985 Staples grad was one of 2 finalists for the Pulitzer Prize in Editorial Cartooning. Davies — who now draws for Newsday — won the Pulitzer in 2004, and was also a finalist in 2011.
(For full details of the Pulitzer Prize in Breaking Photography, click here.)
