Concord (NH) Monitor, by Preston Gannaway
Richard Oppel, Pulitzer Board co-chair (left), presents the 2008 Pulitzer Prize in Feature Photography to Preston Gannaway of the Concord (NH) Monitor.
Winning Work
Rich takes a moment to rest beside Carolynne at Concord Hospital. She was admitted in early January because of an infection in her salivary gland. (1/13/07)
Carolynne St. Pierre pauses to compose herself while recording a video for her children. Her sister Sara Matters and cousin Anna Stoessinger comfort her. Doctors had just told Carolynne she would only survive for a number of weeks or months. (1/13/07)
At Waters Funeral Home, Richard Jacques shows Rich the selection of caskets. Rich started to make funeral arrangements shortly before Christmas when doctors predicted Carolynne might not make it to the end of the year. (1/13/07)
Brian stands at the bathroom while his mother cleans up after a bout of nausea. "I just see so much wear and tear on the family unit," said Carolynne's sister Sara Matters. (1/13/07)
During a hospital visit, EJ touches Carolynne's swollen feet where Melissa had painted her toenails. Fluid build-up in her legs was one factor that forced Carolynne to stop chemotherapy. After a week in the hospital, she was sent home under hospice care. (1/13/07)
During a birthday party for a family friend two weeks before she died, Carolynne's mother, Kathryn Siegle, comforts her. Carolynne said she felt depressed and just wanted to get better. (2/13/07)
Melissa braids her hair while getting ready for her state gymnastics meet as family members sit with Carolynne. As her mother got sicker, Melissa spent less time at home. Fearing that Carolynne would die that day, Rich debated but decided to let Melissa continue with her plans. (2/13/07)
Rich kisses Carolynne the moment she passes away. Her family comforted her and held her during her final moments, as she hoped for.
Rich grieves as people from the funeral home take Carolynne's body away. (2/13/07)
Carolynne's family places roses on her casket after the funeral. Friends and family dressed in pink, her favorite color. (12/8/07)
Exhausted from work and taking care of the kids, Rich says he just looks forward to going to bed at night. (12/8/07)
At EJ's request, Rich brings the dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets into the bathroom where EJ can see them.
Rich punishes Brian after they got into an argument while visiting Carolynne's grave. As their relationship became more and more strained and Brian got into increasingly more trouble, Rich said he knew he could not take care of all three kids. (12/8/07)
Brian waits for his turn while Rich takes EJ's photo during their visit to Carolynne's grave on Mother's Day. (12/8/07)
Rich and Melissa watch EJ play at Story Land in Glen, NH. Carolynne had requested that Rich take EJ to Story Land every summer until he outgrew it. Brian and Melissa grew up taking yearly trips to the amusement park.
On the first day of school, the family walks EJ to Beaver Meadow Elementary School. One of Carolynne's goals was to live long enough to see EJ start kindergarten. Because she wasn't there, family members came to support him. With EJ from left to right is Carolynne's mother Kathryn Seigle, Melissa, Carolynne's sister Laura and her daughter Sofia, family friend Charity Ross, Rich, and Rich's brother Joe St. Pierre. (12/8/07)
Rich and EJ plant trees in the backyard to memorialize Carolynne. (12/8/07)
Rich visits Brian at the end of his therapeutic wilderness program in North Carolina. As problems with Brian escalated at home, Rich decided to send him away for the summer. "There was a lot more peace in his eyes," Rich said about seeing Brian at the end of the summer. During Brian's graduation ceremony, he prepares to trust fall while Rich and field instructor Steve Austin ready to catch him. (12/9/07)
Sitting on a swing outside his new boarding school in South Carolina, Brian cries while saying goodbye to Rich. Brian told Rich he didn't want him to leave. Rich tried to assure him that a year in therapeutic boarding school would make him stronger and help him deal with grief. (12/9/07)
Biography
Preston Gannaway has been a photojournalist for the Concord Monitor in New Hampshire since 2003. She was named the NPPA Region 1 (New England) Photographer of the Year in 2005 and was runner-up in 2006.
Before working for the Monitor, Gannaway interned at the Santa Fe New Mexican and the Bangor Daily News. A native of North Carolina, she began her career at the Coalfield Progress in rural southwest Virginia after earning her Bachelor of Arts in fine art photography at Virginia Intermont College.
Gannaway was recently awarded first place Best Published Picture Story for newspapers under 115,000 circulation in the National Press Photographers Association's Best of Photojournalism contest.