2002 Infinity Award: Photojournalism

Tyler Hicks was born in São Paulo, Brazil, in 1969 to American parents. After studying journalism at Boston University, Hicks worked for the Wilmington Morning Star in North Carolina where he won numerous awards from the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA). He also worked for the Troy Daily News in Ohio before covering the war in Kosovo in 1999 for The New York Times. He relocated to Nairobi in 2000 and covered stories on Ebola in Uganda, the Ethiopian-Eritrean war, and the conflict in Sierra Leone. In September 2001, he went to Afghanistan to document the war against the Taliban. Hicks was a Picture of the Year prizewinner in 2000 for his work on drought in Ethiopia.

Mike Smith, Deputy Picture Editor of The New York Times has written: “Tyler Hicks wants to be where the story is. He was one of the first photojournalists to arrive in Afghanistan, and his work is without doubt among the most memorable visual reports we saw.  Hicks’ unforgettable photographic sequence of the assassination of one Taliban soldier offers indisputable visual evidence of the brutality of the war. A soldier is found, captured, dragged like a sack of flour along the road.  Wounded, the look of death has crept into his eyes. In seconds he would be dead in fact, executed at point blank range by three Alliance soldiers.” These photographs took first place honors in both "News" and "News Picture Story" categories in the newspaper division of the Pictures of the Year International contest, and third place honors in "Spot News Stories" in the World Press Photo contest.