Crowded competition // Show Me Mizzou // University of Missouri

overhead photo of swimmers and surfers — Photo by Ezra Shaw.

Published on Show Me Mizzou April 27, 2023

When it was founded in 1944 by the Missouri School of Journalism, the prestigious annual competition now known as Pictures of the Year International (POYi) was guided by a mission “to pay tribute to those press photographers and newspapers which, despite tremendous war-time difficulties, are doing a splendid job; to provide an opportunity for photographers of the nation to meet in open competition; and to compile and preserve … a collection of the best in current, home-front press pictures.” The POYi competition features not only breaking news photos but also images that capture for posterity day-to-day life, moments that will be kept safe in MU’s archives and digitized for educational research and historical record purposes.

POYi recently announced the winners for its 80th annual awards, which were chosen from more than 35,000 entries from around the globe. Among the winners was the above photo by Getty Images staff photographer Ezra Shaw. Taken in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, during the swim portion of the 2022 Men’s Ironman World Championship, Shaw’s image earned an Award of Excellence in the Single Image, Sports Life & Recreational Sports category.

View the slideshow below for more winning images.

Savannah Bananas by Kent Nishimura | Sports Life | Finalist | Savannah Banana player Malachi Mitchell flips in the air as the team cheers before the start of a banana ball game against the Kansas City Monarchs at Legends Field in Kansas City, Kansas. The team, from Savannah, Georgia, normally plays in a collegiate summer league, but spent the summer of 2022 barnstorming the country for a series of exhibition games that showcase a radical new version of baseball.
Untitled by Corey Arnold | Science & Natural History (Singles) | First Place | A large black bear often sleeps underneath this abandoned house in a residential neighborhood in South Lake Tahoe, California. Local Bear Expert Toogee Seilch, a volunteer for Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care helps to track and evict bears that have denned down under houses and on peoples property. This bear was captured as he exited the crawlspace of this house shortly after dark.
Living Longer and Better by Jasper Doest | Science & Natural History Picture Story | Award of Excellence | Skydiving instructor Arnold Camfferman free-falls about 7,000 feet above Ameland, an island off the coast of the Netherlands. The 69-year-old has jumped out of airplanes more than 20,000 times. “I don’t want to stop anytime soon,” he says. His advice for a long and healthy life? “Never ever stop playing.”
Faces of War by Rui Duarte Silva | Portrait | Finalist | In Novoselivka, Ukraine, only two dozen elderly people were left in the village southeast of Mykolayiv. All the other inhabitants ended up fleeing. Those who stayed or could not escape were fed by volunteers supported by humanitarian aid.
Tribute to Odesa by Laetitia Vançon | War in Ukraine: Daily Life | Finalist | In June 2022, young Odesa, Ukraine secondary school graduates (about 17-years-old) dance in front of the opera and ballet theater and create a video to show the world what they have lost because of the war. “In a way, documenting everyday life, much more familiar to our societies without atrocities, is a way for me to maintain interest, empathy, and engagement, between these lives on hold and the rest of the world,” Vançon said.
Gladiators by Adam Pretty | Sports Life | Award of Excellence | The August sun sets over a Munich, Germany arena as Dorina Klinger and Ronja Klinger of Austria celebrate winning a point during the European Championship of beach volleyball against Germany’s Chantal Laboreur and Sarah Schulz.
Engulfed by Noah Berger | Spot News | Finalist | Flames engulf a chair inside a burning home as the Oak Fire burns in Mariposa County, Calif., on Saturday, July 23, 2022.
Today’s Custodians of Egypt’s Cultural Heritage by Paolo Verzone | Science & Natural History Picture Story | First Place | Still wrapped after their move to the new Grand Egyptian Museum in Cairo, Egypt from sites across the country, statues of pharaohs and gods surround museum director Maj. Gen. Atef Moftah. An engineer by training, Moftah was appointed in 2016 to oversee the monumental work of the new museum.
Hard by David Ramos | Sports Photographer of the Year | Finalist | Nina Roth of Team USA competes at the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing.
Asian Elephants by Brent Stirton | Environmental Vision Award | Award of Excellence | A bachelor herd of wild elephants from Minneriya and Kaudulla National Parks in Sri Lanka are photographed in a Dambulla dump scavenging for sweet fruits and vegetables they can’t find elsewhere. A new hotel rising on the property will include a guided tour of the area.