The judges for the 2018 BPPA Pictures of the Year contest are: Lauren Steel, David Goldman, and Robert Deutsch.
Lauren Steel is a Visuals Consultant for photographers, brands, media, agencies, foundations and non-profits to craft authentic visual narratives. Previously she worked at Getty Images for 15 years and co-founded a subsidiary of the company, The Verbatim Agency. Lauren was a part of the rebranding and start of Getty Images Reportage where she also started the Emerging Talent program. She still mentors photographers in her free time and is faculty on the Eddie Adams Workshop and Syracuse Fall Workshop. She has been involved in the photojournalism community for over 20 years working with some of the greatest award winning photographers in their field. These collaborations have produced exhibits, photo-books and campaigns worldwide. She has guest lectured at ICP, SVA, and Columbia. She is a graduate of the Boston University School of Communications with a photojournalism degree. Her career started in the editorial world after college when she worked at LIFE magazine as the photo and art assistant. From there she started doing photo research and continued to work on their special book projects including the New York Times Best Seller “One Nation”. She currently lives in Brooklyn.
David Goldman, originally of New York City, is a national enterprise staff photographer for the Associated Press based in Atlanta. He has documented assignments ranging from presidential campaigns to Olympic Games, the war in Afghanistan to the struggles of rural America. He has been named Photographer of the Year three times by the New York Press Photographer’s Association and most recently was awarded best portfolio by the Atlanta Photojournalism Seminar for 2018. His work has also been recognized by World Press Photo and as part of the AP’s 2010 breaking news photography package for the war in Afghanistan that was a finalist for thePulitzer Prize. His recent work includes photo essays as well as video mini-documentaries on how opioid addiction is skyrocketing rates of incarcerated women and the disproportionate number of missing and murdered Native American women in the U.S.
Robert Deutsch began his career as a photojournalist in 1974 when he interviewed for a staff job at the Gannett Westchester (NY) Newspaper group, and the photo editor forgot to show up. The editor, feeling guilty, hired Robert, embarking him on nearly a decade of weather features and pet of the week.
When USA Today launched in 1982, he was asked to become one of only six staff photographers for the national newspaper (now 3), basing him in New York City. Being a staff photographer for USA Today allowed Robert to cover a wide range of subjects including entertainment, news, politics, sports and feature stories throughout the United States and the world. In last four decades, Robert has covered 17 Olympic Games, 29 Superbowls, 31 World Series, 31 Final Fours, various NBA Finals, U.S. and British Golf Opens, and countless other events across the country.
A self admitted techy-geek, Robert has been pivotal with the creation of USA Today’s digital workflow, as well as assisting in the design of several digital camera systems and editing software. Robert continues to be a supporter and innovator in creating software and editing systems to help photographers in the field to share their photographs with the world.