The Dallas Morning News, by Ken Geiger and William Snyder
Winning Work
Biography
Ken Geiger, 35, was born in Bremerton, WA. As a teenager he lived in Singapore, where the exotic location whetted his appetite for photography. He eventually became the high school yearbook editor.
After graduation, his family returned to the United States. He had planned to study forrestry in college, but when he and his faher explored the job possibilities for a forrestry major they decided a different major would be more appropriate.
With some research, he and his father discovered that someone could actually get a job and make a living with a degree in photography. They paid a visit to the Rochester (NY) Institute of Technology and Geiger liked what he saw and heard. The incoming class was already full and he had to wait a year to begin classes. To fill his time and make some money, he took a job welding.
At RIT, Geiger received an internship with the Baltimore (MD) Sun and, as a senior, was named photo editor of the school's weekly magazine. He graduated in the summer of '80 and began working to The Austin (TX) American-Statesman.
He worked at The Statesman until 1983 when he move to The Dallas (TX) Morning News. As a general assignment photographer, he has covered a variety of local, national and international stories. Those stories include: Republican and Democratic National Conventions, President Bush's Inauguration, Hurrican Elena, NBA and NFL playoffs, the Final Four, the Super Bowl, the Summer Olympics, the Pan-Am Games, Olympic Trials, Nicaraguan elections, and a gas explosion in Guadalajara, Mexico.
In 1990 Geiger was a member of The Morning News team that produced a special report called "Hidden Wars." It dealt with several small civil wars raging throughout the world, with Geiger covering conflicts in India and Burma. The entry was named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in the Explanatory Journalism category.
Geiger has also eceived awards from The Dallas Press Club, The National Press Photographers' Associations, The AP Managing Editors, The Texas and National Headliners and the Pro Football and Baseball halls of Fame.
Geiger is single, enjoys hunting and fishing and has two bird dogs named Rowdy and Bandit.
William Snyder, 33, began his photography career at the age of 14 when the local newspaper in Henderon, KY asked him to photograph some of the high school football games. He wa soon photographing news and feature stories for the paper and became the "weekend" staff photographer when he turned 16 and received his driver's license.
He attended Boston (MA) University for one year and then transfered to Rochester (NY) Institute of Technology where he sharpened his technical skills and received honorable mention as College Photogapher of the Year from the National Press Photographers Association. He was graduated with highest honors in June, 1981 and began working at The Miami (FL) News.
While at The Miami News, he covered many of the city's big news events incuding the riots of 1982, the NFL playoffs and Super Bowl , and three Space Shuttle launches. He was named NPPA's Region Six Photographers of the Year in 1983. That same year he moved to The Dallas (TX) Morning News as a general assignment photographer.
Since joing The Dallas Morning News, Snyder has covered a variety of news and sports events, including: the NCAA basketball playoffs and Final Four, the NBA playoffs and finals, NFL playoffs and Super Bowl, the '88 and '92 Winter Olympics, the '92 Summer Olympics, the aftermath of the Challenger disaster and the subsequent launching of the Shuttle Discovery, the 1984 Republican Convention, the Sweetwawter (TX) tornado disaster, rebel troops in El Salvador, life on a Nicaraguan cotton farm, the first free eletions in Haiti, the re-unification ceremonies in Germany and the attempted coup in the former Soviet Union,
He has rceived award from the NPPA's Pictures of the Year competition, Society of Newspaper Design, Texas Headliners , Associated Press Managing Editors, Pro-Football Hall of Fame and Robert F. Kennedy Foundation. In 1989, as a member of a three-person team, he was awarded a Pulitzer Prize in Explanatory Journalism for a project which documented how The National Transporation Safety Board conducs an air-crash investiation.
In January of 1990 he became aware of the infant AIDS epidemic in Romania and the horrible conditions under which the country lived as a result of former dictator Nicolae Ceausescu's policies. He travelled to the country in May 1990 to shoot a series of stories for The Dallas Morning News and The Knight Ridder Tribune Newswire. His main objective was to document the "homes for the irrecoverables" and orpahnages and the suffering of the AIDS-infectd babies. For his efforts, Snyder was awarded his second Pulitzer Prize, this time in the feature photography category
He is married to Amy Lewy, a corporate attorney. They met on the sidelines of a Miami Dolphins football game whie she was a photo-stringer for UPI. They have two sons, Cameron-4 and Scott-1.


















