Newsday photojournalist a finalist for Pictures of the Year International award
Police, family and loved ones at the August funeral for Nassau police Officer Matthew Perlungher. The photograph is part of a series of images by Newsday photojournalist J. Conrad Williams Jr. and named as a finalist in Pictures of the Year International's local news picture story category. Credit: Newsday/J. Conrad Williams Jr.
Newsday photojournalist J. Conrad Williams Jr. is a contest finalist in Pictures of the Year International's local news picture story category for his dramatic images of the funeral for Nassau Police Officer Matthew Perlungher.
The entry, titled "A Hero's Farewell," consisted of nine outdoor photos from the late officer's August funeral in Garden City, including heart-wrenching images of Perlungher's wife and daughter staring emotionally at the sky.
Another striking overhead photograph showed a sea of police officers and elected officials lined at attention in the middle of the road.
Perlungher, 50, of Merrick died Aug. 4 after a four-month battle with cancer, an illness linked to the toxic dust and air in lower Manhattan following the World Trade Center terrorist attacks.
On Sept. 11, 2001, Perlungher rushed to Ground Zero, where he would spend a combined 85 hours through late October on the rescue and recovery operations.
"It is a tremendous honor for J. Conrad Williams Jr. to be recognized by Pictures of the Year International," said Newsday Director of Multimedia Newsgathering John Keating. "His photographs of Police Officer Matthew Perlungher’s funeral capture the grace and dignity of an emotional send-off for a public servant who made the ultimate sacrifice."
The highly competitive Pictures of the Year International competition began in 1944 as a way to recognize the work of wartime news photographers and has since expanded to include a wide range of photojournalism, including documentaries, visual editing and online multimedia.
Each year more than 52,000 works are submitted to the contest by photojournalists from 71 nations, organizers said. During three weeks of judging, a panel of 17 visual journalists selected 240 winners.
Williams, a highly decorated veteran Newsday photographer, has been previously honored by the New York Emmys, New York State Associated Press Association, Associated Press Sports Editors, the New York Press Photographers Association, the National Association of Black Journalists, Deadline Club, the Silurians Press Club Excellence in Journalism Awards and the National Headliners Award competition.
Robert Brodsky is a breaking news reporter who has worked at Newsday since 2011. He is a Queens College and American University alum.
