Tyler Hicks

Tyler Hicks
Born (1969-07-09) July 9, 1969 (age 55)
São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
EducationStaples High School (Connecticut)
Alma materBoston University
OccupationPhotojournalist
AwardsPulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography (2014, 2016)

Tyler Portis Hicks (born July 9, 1969) is a photojournalist who works as a staff photographer for The New York Times. Based in Kenya, he covers foreign news for the newspaper with an emphasis on conflict and war.

Hicks was present during the deadly attack by terrorists on the Westgate shopping center in Nairobi on September 21, 2013. As injured victims tried to escape, Hicks entered the mall[1] and followed Kenyan army and police as they searched for Al-Shabaab militants.[2] For this work, he was awarded the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for breaking news photography[3][4] as well as the Robert Capa Gold Medal, awarded by the Overseas Press Club of America.[5] In 2016, he received another Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of the European migrant crisis, sharing it with Mauricio Lima, Sergey Ponomarev, and Daniel Etter "for photographs that captured the resolve of refugees, the perils of their journeys and the struggle of host countries to take them in."[6]

Hicks was named the newspaper photographer of the year by the Missouri School of Journalism's Pictures of the Year International in 2007.[7] In 2010, his photographs from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, along with the war correspondence of his colleagues Dexter Filkins and C.J. Chivers, with whom he often worked, were selected by New York University as being among the Top Ten Works of Journalism of the Decade.[8] Hicks received a George Polk Award for Foreign Reporting in 2011.[9]

Hicks was previously a freelance photographer based in Africa and the Balkans and worked for newspapers in North Carolina and Ohio.[10] He has worked in Syria, Libya, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Iraq, Russia, Bosnia, Lebanon, Israel, Gaza, Chechnya, and many countries in Africa, including South Sudan during the 2011 referendum. He graduated from Staples High School in 1988,[11] and went on to Boston University's College of Communication, where he earned a degree in Journalism in 1992.[12] He returned to Boston University in 2011 to deliver the commencement address at the College of Communication.[13]

Hicks was reported missing on March 16, 2011, while covering the revolution in Libya for The New York Times.[14] The New York Times reported on March 18, 2011 that Libya had agreed to free Hicks, Anthony Shadid, Lynsey Addario and Stephen Farrell.[15] Hicks and his three colleagues were released on March 21, 2011, six days after being captured by pro-Qaddafi forces.[16]

On February 16, 2012, Anthony Shadid suffered a fatal asthma attack while covering civil unrest in Syria with Hicks. Hicks assisted in carrying Shadid's body across the border into Turkey.[17]

  1. ^ Estrin, James (September 21, 2013). "Witness to a Massacre in a Nairobi Mall". The New York Times.
  2. ^ "A NY Times Photographer Happened To Be Near The Nairobi Mall Attack And Took Powerful Photos Inside". Business Insider. Retrieved 2018-03-23.
  3. ^ "The 2014 Pulitzer Prize Winner in Breaking News Photography". www.pulitzer.org. Retrieved 2018-03-23.
  4. ^ Estrin, James (April 14, 2014). "New York Times Wins Two Photography Pulitzers". The New York Times.
  5. ^ "Tyler Hicks Awarded 2013 Robert Capa Gold Medal Award". NPPA. 2014-04-24. Retrieved 2018-03-23.
  6. ^ "Breaking News Photography". The Pulitzer Prized. Retrieved 7 May 2016.
  7. ^ "nytimesagency.com - This website is for sale! - nytimesagency Resources and Information". ww16.nytimesagency.com. {{cite web}}: Cite uses generic title (help)
  8. ^ Stephens, Mitchell, "Top Ten Works of Journalism of the Decade. 2000-2009" (http://journalism.nyu.edu/decade/ Archived 2015-09-05 at the Wayback Machine) New York University Arthur I. Carter Journalism Institute. http://journalism.nyu.edu/decade/ Archived 2015-09-05 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 18 March 2013.
  9. ^ "LIU announces 2011 George Polk Awards in Journalism" (http://www.liu.edu/About/News/Univ-Ctr-PR/2012/February/Polk-PR_Feb-20-2012.aspx.
  10. ^ ""Tyler Hicks shares Iraq pics"". Archived from the original on 2008-02-06. Retrieved 2008-04-22.
  11. ^ "Westport natives, both Staples grads, among missing Times journalists in Libya". Westport News. Retrieved 2018-03-23.
  12. ^ "Times Photographer Honored for '06 Work". The New York Times. February 26, 2007.
  13. ^ "New York Times photographer Tyler Hicks addresses BU COM graduates | BU Now". blogs.bu.edu. Retrieved 2018-03-23.
  14. ^ Peters, Jeremy W. (March 16, 2011). "Four New York Times Journalists Are Missing in Libya". Media Decoder. Retrieved March 22, 2011.
  15. ^ Kirkpatrick, David (March 18, 2011). "Libya Says It Will Release Times Journalists". New York Times. Retrieved March 18, 2011.
  16. ^ Peters, Jeremy W. (March 21, 2011). "Freed Times Journalists Give Account of Captivity". The New York Times. Retrieved March 21, 2011.
  17. ^ Gladstone, Rick (2012-02-16). "Anthony Shadid, a New York Times Reporter, Dies in Syria". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2018-03-23.