AWARD DATE: 1968
AWARD NAME:Best Daily Newspaper Or Wire Service Photographic Reporting From Abroad
AWARD RECIPIENT: Edward T. Adams
AWARD RECIPIENT AFFILIATION: The Associated Press
AWARD HONORED WORK: Street Corner Execution – Saigon
Edward T. (Eddie) Adams of the Associated Press swept the board for honors in still photography in 1968 with “Street Corner Execution – Saigon” that won his OPC award. Out of more than 3000 entries in the world press photo contest at The Hague, he took the grand prize, including a trip to The Netherlands from which he has recently returned. He won $1,250 from U.S. Camera; was named “Photographer of the Year” (as he was in 1967) by the New York Press Photographers Association, and received the 1968 Associated Press Managing Editors Award for outstanding work by staff photographer of the new service.
With almost two years of service to his credit photographing the war in Vietnam, Adams has accompanied into battle almost every American unit operating there, including the U.S. Marines, 1st Infantry Division, 173rd Airborne Brigade, the U.S. 1st Air Cavalry Division. His most recent Vietnam assignment was from January to July, 1960.
In April, 1966, he covered Buddhist riots in Hue, Da Nang and Saigon, and was on hand for last year’s Viet Cong Tet Offensive, in early January, 1968.
He began as a cameraman in his home town of New Kensington, Pennsylvania. Before joining the AP he worked for the Enquirer & News of Battle Creek, Mich., and the Philadelphia Bulletin. From 1951 to
1954 he was a comeback photographer with the U.S. Marines.
Citation for Excellence: Arthur Greenspon, Associated Press, for his powerful wire photo “Help From Above.”
Citation for Excellence: Kyoichi Sawada, United Press International, for his outstanding black and white and color coverage of the “21-Day Battle To Capture Hue.”