RPS Annual International Awards

Press Release:

Sir David Attenborough will be presented with the Progress Medal and Honorary Fellowship of The Royal Photographic Society (RPS) at its Annual International Awards.  The prestigious event, to be held at The Royal Institute of British Architects, London, on the 2nd October 2008, recognises those who have made outstanding contributions to the art of science and photography.  

Sir David’s contribution to natural history, heralded for popular documentaries including ‘The Living Planet’ and ‘The Trials of Life,’ has changed how we see the natural world forever. He joins a list of high profile names including Sir Tim Berners-Lee and David Hockney who have also received this prestigious accolade.  

2008 Awards recipients also include Martin Parr Hon FRPS, who will receive The Society’s prestigious Centenary Medal for his sustained and significant contribution to photography.  Parr, a member of Magnum Photos, is internationally respected for the manner in which he has broadened and developed the notion and intentions of documentary practice over the past 30 years.  

Fellow member of Magnum Photos, Chris Steele-Perkins will receive the Terence Donovan Award for his major achievement in the field of editorial, advertising and commercial practice.

Honorary Fellowship recipients this year include veteran photojournalist John Chillingworth, who cut his teeth on Picture Post magazine in the 1950s, internationally respected documentary photographer Zed Nelson and the landscape photographer Joe Cornish.    

The Vic Odden Award, recognising notable achievement in the art of photography by a British photographer aged 35 years or under, will be presented to Alixandra Fazzina.