Preston Gannaway, an American photojournalist, won the

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...

for Feature Photography in 2008.

Biography and career

Gannaway, a native of North Carolina, grew up in an artistic family. Both her mother and her great-grandmother were artists. Halfway through college she decided she wanted to make the leap from drawing and painting to photography. In 2000, Gannaway graduated from

Virginia Intermont College Virginia Intermont College (VI) was a private college in Bristol, Virginia. Founded in 1884 to create additional education opportunities for women, the college had been coeducational since 1972. It experienced significant financial difficulties du ...

with a bachelor's degree in fine art photography. Her first job after college was at the 8,000 circulation '' Coalfield Progress'', a twice-a-week newspaper in rural southwest Virginia. In 2003 she started work at the ''

Concord Monitor The ''Concord Monitor'' is the daily newspaper for Concord, the state capital of New Hampshire. It also covers surrounding towns in Merrimack County, most of Belknap County, as well as portions of Grafton, Rockingham and Hillsborough counties ...

'' in New Hampshire. In 2008 she joined the staff of the ''

Rocky Mountain News The ''Rocky Mountain News'' (nicknamed the ''Rocky'') was a daily newspaper published in Denver, Colorado, United States, from April 23, 1859, until February 27, 2009. It was owned by the E. W. Scripps Company from 1926 until its closing. As ...

'' and later went on to ''

The Virginian-Pilot ''The Virginian-Pilot'' is the daily newspaper for Norfolk, Virginia. Commonly known as ''The Pilot'', it is Virginia's largest daily. It serves the five cities of South Hampton Roads as well as several smaller towns across southeast Virginia ...

''. She lives in the San Francisco Bay area with her partner Nicole Frugé. Since 2013 Gannaway has worked as an independent photographer.

Awards

Gannaway earned Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography in 2008 for her project "Remember Me." The citation called it an "intimate chronicle of a family coping with a parent's terminal illness." Gannaway and reporter Chelsea Conaboy spent two years with the family of Carolynne and Rich St. Pierre as Carolynne fought against cancer and ultimately died. The two journalists continued the story after her death to show St. Pierre's family struggle to deal with her loss. Rich St. Pierre referred to Gannaway and Conaboy as "gentle observers of our most private moments." Gannaway told

Popular Photography ''Popular Photography'', formerly known as ''Popular Photography & Imaging'', also called ''Pop Photo'', is a monthly American consumer website and former magazine that at one time had the largest circulation of any imaging magazine, with an edit ...

, "Often people don't realize that that's the darkest time for a family with someone so sick -- when the house gets quiet and other friends and community members get back to their lives. After the loved one has passed, the needs are just as great. We wanted to show what that part of life was like for Rich and the kids." Gannaway was a 2014 finalist for the

Getty Images Getty Images Holdings, Inc. is an American visual media company and is a supplier of stock images, editorial photography, video and music for business and consumers, with a library of over 477 million assets. It targets three markets— creative ...

and

Chris Hondros Chris Hondros (March 14, 1970 – April 20, 2011) was an American war photographer. Hondros was a finalist twice for a Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography. Biography Chris Hondros was born in New York City to immigrant Greek and Ge ...

fund. Gannaway’s work has also been honored in Pictures of the Year International, NPPA’s Best of Photojournalism, The Society for News Design, Atlanta Photojournalism Seminar and other competitions.

Books and exhibitions

In 2013 Gannaway self-published, "Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea," a visual essay documenting the working-class seaside community of Ocean View, Virginia. Gannaway's work was included in the 2015 Annual Juried Members Exhibition at San Francisco's Cameraworks.

References

External links

Gannaway's website

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Gannaway, Preston Living people Virginia Intermont College alumni Artists from North Carolina American photojournalists Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography winners American women photographers American women journalists Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American women Women photojournalists