Associated Press, by Oded Balilty
Columbia University President Lee C. Bollinger (left) presents Oded Balilty with the 2007 Pulitzer Prize in Breaking News Photography.
Winning Work
A lone Jewish settler challenges Israeli security officers during clashes that erupted as authorities cleared the West Bank settlement of Amona, east of the Palestinian town of Ramallah. Thousands of troops in riot gear and on horseback clashed with hundreds of stone-throwing Jewish settlers holed up in this illegal West Bank outpost after Israel's Supreme Court cleared the way of demolition of nine homes at the site. (February 1, 2006)
Biography
Associated Press photographer Oded Balilty, born in 1979 in Jerusalem, where his is currently based, learned the basics of photojournalism as a photographer for the magazine of the Israeli Defense Forces. After completing his military service, he worked as a photographer for the ZOOM 77 agency and the daily paper Yedioth Ahronot. In 2002, at the height of the Palestinian Intifada, the Associated Press hired him to its Jerusalem photo staff.
In addition to Israeli/Palestinian issues, Balilty has covered the 2004 Ukrainian elections and subsequent demonstration, the 20th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear accident, and the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah. He was one of 12 photographers selected to attend the prestigious World Press Photo 2005 Joop Swart Masterclass in Amsterdam. His work has been exhibited at galleries and museums in Switzerland and France, including Visa pour l'Image 2004 in Perpignan, France, a group exhibition of AP coverage of the Intifada.