Seattle Times photographer Alan Berner honored at SPJ awards

On Saturday, as on most Saturdays, Seattle Times staff photographer Alan Berner was doing what he loves best:

Going out on an assignment, often one he found himself by scouring his sources, listings of events or just plain seeing a visual story that needed to be told.

This time, it was a shoot at Franklin High School in Seattle for the Washington's Strongest School Competition, featuring a number of events such as a tractor-tire flip and a rope tug of war.

Then, after his regular workday, on Saturday night, Berner attended the annual awards banquet for the Society of Professional Journalists of the Pacific Northwest.

There he was presented with the June Anderson Almquist Award for distinguished service to journalism in a career that so far has spanned more than three decades.

Almquist was a trailblazing Seattle Times reporter, columnist and editor who died in 2000.

Clay Holtzman, president of the regional SPJ chapter, said, "Just look at Alan's portfolio and anyone can see his talent for capturing his subjects in their essence. For example, his Christmas Day 2009 photo package that documented a young boy's fitting for a prosthetic arm. Simple, powerful, resonating. There is a reason why that package received the National Press Photographers Association regional first place, which Alan has won numerous times."

Fred Nelson, Times photo editor, said, "Alan Berner has a unique vision driven by his persistent need to make pictures. He carries his camera everywhere. He is always ready to make a photo but, more than that, he carries the camera because making pictures is the way he experiences the world. That may seem unusual, but I think that is the way Alan lives his life.

"His pictures can be alternatively informative, beautiful, heart wrenching, or humorous. His work ethic is the same whether he is covering a national political convention or a tiny neighborhood event, the president of the United States or a homeless person. He always works hard."

Berner has worked for The Times for 29 years, and has been a newspaper photographer for more than 35 years.

He is a seven-time winner of the Regional Photographer of the Year, named by the National Press Photographers Association. He is a five-time recipient of the Cowles Cup, The Associated Press Sweepstakes photography award for Washington and Oregon.

Berner is always enthusiastic about his craft.

"With photography, it has been my ticket to the world," he said. "I'm not a fly on the wall. But we become the eyes for the viewer, taking them to people, to experiences, to stories they cannot get to or otherwise could not know about without us."

Erik Lacitis: 206-464-2237 or elacitis@seattletimes.com

More awards from journalism competition

The Seattle Times won 51 awards in the SPJ Northwest Excellence in Journalism Awards on Saturday night, more than any other large newspaper.

The annual journalism contest hands out dozens of prizes for television, radio, print and online media in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Alaska.

The results were announced during a ceremony at Safeco Field.

The Seattle Times won 16 first-place awards, including in the categories of investigative reporting, spot news, crime and justice, education, environment and science reporting, business reporting, personalities, long feature story, online sports, online innovation, sports reporting, sports feature, sports column, news photography, portrait photography, sports photography.

The Oregonian took first place in the general-excellence category; The Seattle Times placed second. The Oregonian won a total of 30 awards.

The Statesman Journal of Salem won the general-excellence award for midsize newspapers, those with a daily circulation between 25,000 and 65,000. For small daily newspapers, the general-excellence award went to The Daily News of Longview.

Other winners of general-excellence awards included: The Seattle Weekly for alternative press; The Issaquah Press for nondaily newspapers; Seattle Magazine for magazines.