cover image Best of Photojournalism

Best of Photojournalism

National Press Photographers Assn, University Of Miss School Of Journalism. Running Press Book Publishers, $16.95 (256pp) ISBN 978-0-89471-735-2

Ranging from human-interest fluff to the burns and bruises of domestic violence, these photographs are deemed the best of the 46th ``Pictures of the Year'' contest held under the auspices of the NPPA and the University of Missouri. But some are rather less than best--generic views of children frolicking with politicians on the stump, the familiar aches and strains of athletes and ever-present violence in American cities. Nevertheless, a quick scan is rewarding: the Pittsburgh Press 's John Kaplan, named newspaper photographer of the year, snapped a high school wrestler meditating before a bout, head buried in his sweatshirt, while Eugene Richards of Magnum Photos and Donna Ferrato of Life chronicle, respectively, the drug war in South Brooklyn, N.Y., and the ordeals of battered women. Like the contest itself, the volume is organized into categories (e.g., sports photography, magazine picture story) and displays winning entries in each. (Dec.)