Toronto Star wins two National Pictures of the Year Awards.

The Toronto Star won two 2009 National Pictures of the Year last night at the Thompson Landry Gallery in the Distillery District in Toronto.

Steve Russell won the Spot News Picture of the Year for a picture of a bar brawl that spilled out onto Richmond Street in the Entertainment District. 

Carlos Osorio placed third in the same category with a picture of parents grieving over their son in the Moon River triple drowning.

A brawl outside Lot 332 spills onto Richmond Street as the effects of the recession haven't hit the entertainment district's nightclubs as hard as other sectors in Toronto. 

The parents of one of three victims along with an OPP officer grieve over the body of a man whose body recovered from the pool under the Moon River Falls after a tragic triple drowning. 

The Star also won the Team Multimedia Award for "Lianne's Story" , a story about a woman torn between a serious addiction - and a profound love. The love is for her children; the addiction is to crack cocaine. Team multimedia is Multimedia shot and edited and/or produced by more than person that includes at least two of the following elements: still photography, audio, video..

The team on "Lianne's Story" included Pawel Dwulit, video, photography & editing, Scott Simmie, editing, Randy Risling, original music and Isabel Teotonio, reporter.

The Star also placed second in Team Multimedia with Lucas Oleniuk and Randy Risling's "William and the Windmill", the stroy of William Kamkwamba, who using scraps from a local junkyard in Malawi, he created something that harnessed the wind - and changed his life.

Steve Russell placed third in Sport Feature photography with a picture of fans reaching for a souvenir during batting practice prior to a Blue Jays game.

 Fans reach for a souvenir during batting practice before the Jays face the Boston Red Sox.

Bernard Weil also had a pair of Honourable Mentions for "Wheelchair self-defence" and "Centreville sits Silent".

The Awards, the National Pictures of the Year is hosted by the News Photographer Association of Canada (NPAC)

The awards are in their third year of existence, previously they were split up into an Eastern and Western format.

NPAC was also formed three years ago with the merger of the Western and Eastern Canadian News Photographer Associations.

The non-profit organization represents news, documentary and media photographers and editors across Canada.

The Pictures of the Year runs similar to the National Newspaper Awards (the Star has six photo and multimedia nominations) but, on an expanded scale, there are 11 categories. Spot News, General News, Feature, Social Issues, Sports Action, Sports Feature, Portrait/Personality, Pictorial, Picture Story, Single Multimedia and Team Multimedia.

Single Multimedia is Multimedia shot and edited and/or produced by ONE person that includes at least two of the following elements: still photography, audio, video. 

All photographs must have been made within the calendar year of 2009. Non-published work is eligible for entry.

All the videos are also available on the Toronto Star Photo Department Facebook Fan site

Comments

[Harry Hilders]

Wow, I really like that last photo! It's just such a funny scenery, every one reaching out for that ball!
Ofourse the second is really impressive, such sad picture.

[Andrew Metcalfe]

The Star, like so many newspapers - takes beautiful awe-inspiring photographs. It's such a shame that so few of them end up online in the normal stories.

[Linda LeBar]

lovee the last picture. its just so epic

[Aditya]

i like the first one for some reason...

[Tony]

The grieving family photo is a brilliant shot. The perfect news photo.