American photographer Steve McCurry has been awarded the centenary medal for lifetime achievement at this year’s Royal Photographic Society Awards. The announcement was made last night at a special ceremony at The Royal Society in London. The Magnum photographer was given the award “in recognition of a sustained, significant contribution to the art of photography”.
Speaking at the ceremony, McCurry told of his delight at being given the award, adding: “I can’t think of a better way to spend my life than wandering this planet telling stories.”
Tim Webber, the driving force behind British visual effects company Framestore’s push into digital film and television, and credited with developing the company’s virtual camera and motion rig systems, was awarded an RPS progress medal and honorary fellowship.
[bjp_ad_slot]The Society’s award for outstanding service to photography went to Terence Pepper, curator of photographs at the National Portrait Gallery from 1978 until 2014, now senior special advisor on photographs at the Gallery. The award “recognises major sustained, outstanding and influential contributions to the advancement of photography and/or imaging in their widest meanings”.
Honorary Fellowships were awarded to: Marc Aspland, chief sports photographer at The Times newspaper; portrait photographers Harry Borden and John Swannell; Magnum photographer Chris Steele-Perkins; photography journalist and editor David Land; photographer Susan Derges; and Hugh Turvey, a photographer who works with X-ray technology.
The J Dudley Johnston Award was awarded to David Campany, writer, lecturer, curator and artist, for “sustained excellence or a single outstanding publication, in the field of photographic criticism or the history of photography”.
Jon Tonks, who was one of BJP’s Ones to Watch earlier this year, was awarded the Vic Odden Award for his debut photobook, Empire. Tonks’s book was nominated by British photographer, collector and curator, Martin Parr as one of his best books of 2013.
For a full list of this year’s winners, click here.
Founded in 1853, The Royal Photographic Society’s mission was, as it still is today, to “promote the art and science of photography”. Membership of The Society is open to everyone interested in photography – amateur or professional, artist or scientist.
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