Women In Photography International Distinguished Photographers Award
International Photo Awards / LUCIE AWARDS- December 7, 2003   See photos from GALA event

Annie Leibovitz 2003 Annie, NBC Today Show                                        ©Jean Ferro 11/03 Interview w/Matt Lauer about her new book "American Music"

After a long hiatus, WIPI is proud to present our 2003 Distinguished Photographers award, to Annie Leibovitz!

There are so many talented women photographers working in the world today. From the established classics to new and innovative talent. WIPI has chosen Annie Leibovitz as the 2003 winner. Annie's incredible talent shines the world over.
The Nominees included:

Women In Photography International Distinguished Photographer's Award (presented by WIPI)
Uta Barth, Lillian Bassman, Jodi Cobb, Annie Leibovitz, Helen Levitt, Sally Mann, Annette Messager, Catherine Opie, Cindy Sherman, Carrie Mae Weems, Mariana Yampolsky

Winners and Nominees Announced For International Photography 2003 Gala Awards Ceremony


First-of-its-kind Photography Event to Recognize Photography Masters and Present Them With a "Lucie" For Their Achievements

2003 Lucie Awards Honorees Get Standing Ovations First of it's kind photography event completely sold out! Beverly Hills, Dec. 7, 2003, Calif., --- International Photography Awards (IPA), Lucie Awards had a stellar event at the Beverly Hilton. Over 600 people attended the affair to pay tribute to the Masters in Photography. The photographer of the year title and a $10,000 prize was awarded to Chris Frazer-Smith of UK.

There were also eleven Lucie's presented to talents in various support categories. Photographers Steve McCurry, William Claxton, Douglas Kirkland and Phil Stern received standing ovations for their work. Douglas Kirkland stated, Other Movie industry has its Oscars and now the photography community has its Lucie's Ruth Bernhard and Henri Cartier-Bresson could not attend in person, but both accepted their awards virtually.
Ninety-Eight year old Bernhard, in a moving speech, accepted her Lucie via video and Bresson sent a hand written note to the IPA, Thankyou to the IPA for this wonderful honor.

Presenters included: Leonard Nimoy, Brendan Fraser, Ali McGraw, Vidal Sassoon, Kent Kobersteen from National Geographic, Vilmos Zsigmond and Paul Handgrover from LACMA. The event was hosted by Fred Willard. The Lucie Awards paid tribute to the Masters of Photography and the award recipients included: Henri Cartier-Bresson, Ruth Bernhard, Phil Borges, Bob Evans, R J Muna, Phil Stern, William Claxton, Douglas Kirkland, Melvin Sokolsky, Mary Ellen Mark, Steve McCurry, Tim Street-Porter, Gene Trindl and Annie Leibovitz.

It was a dream come true. I am so pleased at the success of the event. Everyone was so gracious and the event was more wonderful than I could have hoped for. I am looking forward to next year!Ó said Hossein Farmani, Chairman of the Lucie Awards. The next Lucie awards are planned for October 2004 in New York.

The WINNERS and nominees of the International Photography Awards www.photoawards.com are:

Humanitarian Award - * - Phil Borges
presented by Amnesty International

Visionary Award - * - Robert Evans
presented by Bret Ratner

Lifetime Achievement in Photography nominees - * - Henri Cartier-Bresson
presented by Leonard Nimoy
nominees: Arthur Leipzig, Bruce Davidson, Gordon Parks, Helmut Newton, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Irving Penn, Larry Fink, Richard Avedon, Robert Frank, Robert Heinecken, Ruth Bernhard, William Claxton

Outstanding Achievement in Advertising - * - R J Muna
presented by APA, Jim McHugh
nominees: Craig Cutler, Doug Menuez, Glen Wexler, Greg Gorman, Howard Schatz, Jean Moss, Jim Erickson, Larry Fink, Laurie Rubin, Mary Ellen Mark, Moshe Brakha, Nadav Kander, Parish Kohanim, Peggy Sirota, Pete Barrett, Pete McArthur, Phil Marco, RJ Muna, Rodney Smith, Sally Gall, Stephen Wilkes, Stewart Cohen

Outstanding Achievement in Architecture/Landscape Photography - * - Tim Street-Porter
presented by Vidal Sassoon
nominees: Ezra Stoller, Elizabeth Gill Lui, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Joel Meyerowitz, Julian Broad, Julius Shulman, Richard Misrach, Tim Street-Porter

Outstanding Achievement in Entertainment Photography - * - Douglas Kirkland
presented by Vilmos Zsigmond
nominees: Annie Leibovitz, Bob Willoughby, Bruce Weber, Douglas Kirkland, Firooz Zahedi, Greg Gorman, Harry Benson, Larry Fink, Matthew Rolston, Roxanne Lowit, William Claxton

Outstanding Achievement in Music Photography -*- William Claxton
presented by Paul Holdengraber
nominees: Annie Leibovitz, William Claxton, Greg Gorman, Harry Benson, Larry Fink, Matthew Rolston, Roxanne Lowit, David Bailey,

Outstanding Achievement in Still Photography for Motion Pictures - * - Phil Stern
presented by Peter Sorel SMPSP and Branden Fraser
nominees: Phil Stern, Stephen Vaughan, David James, Peter Sorel, Francois Duhamel, Melinda Sue Gordon, Andrew Cooper, Merrick Morton, Bob Willoughby

Outstanding Achievement in Documentary Photography - * - Mary Ellen Mark
presented by Douglas Kirkland
nominees: Larry Clark, Nan Goldin, Bruce Davidson, Elliott Erwitt, James Nachtwey, Marissa Roth, Sebastiao Salgado, Arthur Tress

Outstanding Achievement in Fashion Photography - *- Melvin Sokolsky
presented by Ali McGraw and model of the year, Jessica Miller
nominees: Brigitte LaCombe, Bruce Weber, David Bailey, David LaChapelle, Francesco Scavullo, Helmut Newton, Irving Penn, Lillian Bassman, Mario Testino, Melvin Sokolsky, Peter Lindbergh, Ralph Gibson, Richard Avedon, Sarah Moon, Steven Meisel

Outstanding Achievement in Fine Art Photography - * - Ruth Bernhard
presented by Leonard Nimoy
nominees: Arno Minkkenin, Cindy Sherman, Duane Michals, Helmut Newton, Jack Spencer, Lee Friedlander, Mary Ellen Mark, Michael Kenna, Ralph Gibson, Richard Misrach, Nadav Kandar, Ray Metzker, Robert ParkeHarrison, Ruth Bernhard, Sally Mann, Sheila Metzner, Shirin Neshat, Susan Rankaitis, William Eggleston

Outstanding Achievement in Photojournalism - * - Steve McCurry
presented by Kent Kobersteen, National Geographic
nominees: Antonin Kratochvil, Carolyn Cole, David Burnett, Gary Knight, Horst Faas, James Nachtwey, Lauren Greenfield, Nick Ut, Ron Haviv, Seamus Murphy, Sebastiao Salgado, Steve McCurry, Tom Stoddart

Outstanding Achievement in Portrait Photography - * - Gene Trindl
presented by ASMP and William King
(nominees: Albert Watson, Annie Liebovitz, Arnold Newman, Bert Stern, Bettina Rheims, Gene Trindl, Gordon Parks, Paul Jasmin, Richard Avedon, Joyce Tenneson


See photos from GALA event
Women In Photography International Distinguished Photographer's Award - * - Annie Leibovitz
presented by Jean Ferro, WIPI
nominees: Uta Barth, Lillian Bassman, Jodi Cobb, Helen Levitt, Annie Leibovitz , Sally Mann , Annette Messager, Catherine Opie, Cindy Sherman, Carrie Mae Weems , Mariana Yampolsky

Photographer of the Year - Chris Frazer-Smith
New Discovery Award - Robert Vizzini

About IPA
IPA is comprised of 10,000 members and affiliates from around the world. IPA's mission is to salute the achievements of the world's finest photographers, to discover new and emerging talent, and to promote the appreciation of photography. 2003 will mark the first annual awards ceremony acknowledging photographer's achievements from around the world in various categories. These awards will give these influential artists the recognition they deserve. Visit www.photoawards.com.

About Lucie Awards
The Lucie Award will make it debut at the Gala Awards on December 7, 2003. The statue was influenced by two photographers, Frantisek Drtikol and E. O. Hoppe. "Lucie" is the sculptural form inspired by the synthesis of two famous photographic images from the first half of the twentieth century. Taken from the Latin word, "lux" for "light", Lucie is a tribute to the influence and role light plays in photography. International Photo Awards

International Photography Awards 844 S. Robertson Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90035 U.S.A. (310) 659-0122 Fax: (310) 652-7114 General Information press@photoawards.net

photos: ©Waldemar Gorlewski \ Agencja Gazeta \ agencja@agora.pl website: http://agencja.gazeta.pl/fotoweb/

Also see: accompanying article about Annie's visit to Poland with her 1998 exhibition

Life is pretty strange anyway: Annie Leibovitz
in conversation with fotoTAPETA's Anna Beata Bohziewicz
http://fototapeta.art.pl/fti-ale.html
( Warsaw's Hotel Bristol, January 19, 1998)

ABB: - Are you shy?

AL: - Oh! We are all shy. No one knows how to talk. Sometimes we sit in my studio and everywhere is very quiet and no one talks. It drives me crazy... There must be a reason why people who are photographers are not very good at verbal communication. I don't want to believe this, as I think we get lazy. We think because we are photographers we don't have to try to communicate. But I know from my own personal experience that it's hard to watch something to go on and then suddenly to be talking at the same time. read http://fototapeta.art.pl/fti-ale.html

See photos from GALA event

Uta Barth, Lillian Bassman, Jodi Cobb, Helen Levitt, Annie Leibovitz , Sally Mann , Annette Messager,
Catherine Opie, Cindy Sherman, Carrie Mae Weems , Mariana Yampolsky

---