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The 1997 Pulitzer Prize Winner in Spot News Photography

The Press Democrat, by Annie Wells

For her dramatic photograph of a local firefighter rescuing a teenager from raging floodwaters.

Annie Wells holds her 1997 Pulitzer Prize Award for Spot News Photography in front of Columbia University's Low Library.

Winning Work

A local firefighter rescues a teenager from raging floodwaters.

A local firefighter rescues a teenager from raging floodwaters.

Biography

Annie Wells, 42, has worked as a photographer for The Press Democrat for eight years.

Her assignments have included the 1996 World Cup, national elections in Mexico and the 1989 Bay Area earthquake.

Her work is included in the National Museum for Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C.

Before coming to the newspaper, she worked as a photographer for Associated Press in San Francisco, the Greeley Tribune in Greeley, Colorado, and the Herald Journal in Logan, Utah.

She received a B.A. from UC Santa Cruz in science writing and studied photojournalism at San Francisco State University where she was part of a group that won the RFK public service award for a series of stories and photographs on people who help those with AIDS.

Finalists

Nominated as finalists in Spot News Photography in 1997:

Alexander Zemlianichenko

For his photograph of Russian President Boris Yeltsin dancing at a rock concert during his campaign for re-election. (Originally submitted in Feature Photography and returned by the Board to that category.)

Corinne Dufka

For her chilling photograph of the execution of a Liberian prisoner on the streets of Monrovia.

The Jury

Craig Klugman(chair )

editor

Karen Baker

managing editor

Hal Buell

executive photo editor (retired)

Kim Komenich*

staff photographer

Narda Zacchino

associate editor and vice president

Winners in Spot News Photography

1996

Charles Porter IV

For his haunting photographs, taken after the Oklahoma City bombing and distributed by the Associated Press, showing a one-year-old victim handed to and then cradled by a local fireman.
1995

Carol Guzy

For her series of photographs illustrating the crisis in Haiti and its aftermath.
1994

Paul Watson

For his photograph, published in many American newspapers, of a U.S. soldier's body being dragged through the streets of Mogadishu by a mob of jeering Somalis.
See All Spot News Photography

1997 Prize Winners

Beat Reporting

Byron Acohido

For his coverage of the aerospace industry, notably an exhaustive investigation of rudder control problems on the Boeing 737, which contributed to new FAA requirements for major improvements.
See All 1997 Winners