2002 Greg Southam

GREG SOUTHAM, Edmonton Journal

Greg Southam’s first sports photography job was in 1985 – photographing the Manitoba team preparing for and participating in the Canada Summer Games in St. John, New Brunswick. That experience sparked his love of capturing sports images.

Greg Southam

Greg Southam

Southam joined the photography staff at the Edmonton Journal in 1988. He has been a member of the Western Canadian News Photography Association since then and won various nominations for photos at the organization’s annual conference. In 1992, he won the WCNPA sports feature award for a photo of Canadian pairs skaters Christine Hough and Doug Ladret competing at the Canadian Figure Skating Championships in Saskatoon.

In 2001, he won the WCNPA sports action category for his shot of Jamaican long jumper James Beckford flying through the air during the World Track and Field Championships (seen below). That photo along with an image of pole vaulter Simon Genest-Lahaye catching his chin on the bar at the Canadian Track and Field Championships (on our cover) garnered Greg his first nominations for a National Newspaper Award and the 2002 Sports Media Canada Outstanding Sports Photogaphy Award.

He is the first person to ever be nominated twice in one category for one of the prestigious National Newspaper Awards.