Dayna Smith (born 1962) is an American photojournalist. She worked at ''The Washington Post'' for 21 years before going freelance. In 1999 she won

World Press Photo of the Year The World Press Photo of the Year award is part of the World Press Photo Awards, organized by the Netherlands, Dutch foundation World Press Photo. Considered one of the most prestigious and coveted awards in photojournalism, The World Press Pho ...

Life and work

Smith was born in

Minot, North Dakota Minot ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Ward County, North Dakota, United States, in the state's north-central region. It is most widely known for the Air Force base approximately north of the city. With a population of 48,377 at the 20 ...

in 1962. She began her career at ''

The Palm Beach Post ''The Palm Beach Post'' is an American daily newspaper serving Palm Beach County in South Florida, and parts of the Treasure Coast. On March 18, 2018, in a deal worth US$42.35 million, ''The Palm Beach Post'' and ''The Palm Beach Daily News'' we ...

'' in Florida and at ''

The Washington Times ''The Washington Times'' is an American conservative daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., that covers general interest topics with a particular emphasis on national politics. Its broadsheet daily edition is distributed throughout ...

''. In 1985 she joined the staff of ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

,'' where she worked for 21 years as a photographer,

assignment editor In journalism, an assignment editor is an editor – either at a newspaper or a radio or television station – who selects, develops, and plans reporting assignments, either news events or feature stories, to be covered by reporters. An assignme ...

and picture editor. In 2007 she went freelance. Smith spent two weeks in

Kosovo Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Euro ...

in October and November 1998 covering the

Kosovo War The Kosovo War was an armed conflict in Kosovo that started 28 February 1998 and lasted until 11 June 1999. It was fought by the forces of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (i.e. Serbia and Montenegro), which controlled Kosovo before the war ...

for ''The Washington Post.'' A photograph from that time "of a grieving young woman whose husband had been killed the day before" won the 1999

. Smith is one of only four women to have won the award since its foundation in 1955.

References

External links

* * The Washington Post journalists American photojournalists 21st-century American photographers 20th-century American photographers Photographers from North Dakota Kent State University alumni People from Minot, North Dakota Place of birth missing (living people) Living people 1962 births 20th-century American women photographers 21st-century American women photographers Women photojournalists {{US-photographer-stub