2003 Lucie Awards Honorees Get Standing Ovations
First of it's kind photography event completely sold out!

Beverly Hills, Calif., December 7, 2003 --- International Photography Awards (IPA), Lucie Awards had a stellar event at the Beverly Hilton. Over 600 people attended the affair to pay tribute to the Masters in Photography. The photographer of the year title and a $10,000 prize was awarded to Chris Frazer-Smith of UK. There were also eleven Lucies presented to talents in various support categories.

Photographers Steve McCurry, William Claxton, Douglas Kirkland and Phil Stern received standing ovations for their work. Douglas Kirkland stated, “The Movie industry has its Oscars and now the photography community has its Lucie’s.”

Ruth Bernhard and Henri Cartier-Bresson could not attend in person, but both accepted their awards virtually. Ninety-Eight year old Bernhard, in a moving speech, accepted her Lucie via video and Bresson sent a hand written note to the IPA, “Thank you to the IPA for this wonderful honor.”

Presenters included: Leonard Nimoy, Brendan Fraser, Ali McGraw, Vidal Sassoon, Kent Kobersteen from National Geographic, Vilmos Zsigmond and Paul Holdengräber from LACMA. The event was hosted by Fred Willard.

The Lucie Awards paid tribute to the Master’s of Photography and the award recipients included: Henri Cartier-Bresson, Ruth Bernhard, Phil Borges, Bob Evans,
R J Muna, Phil Stern, William Claxton, Douglas Kirkland, Melvin Sokolsky, Mary Ellen Mark, Steve McCurry, Tim Street-Porter, Gene Trindl and Annie Leibovitz.
“It was a dream come true. I am so pleased at the success of the event. Everyone was so gracious and the event was more wonderful than I could have hoped for. I am looking forward to next year!” said Hossein Farmani, Chairman of the Lucie Awards. The next Lucie awards are planned for October 2004 in New York.

To download images please go to www.photoawards.com/press

About IPA
IPA is comprised of 10,000 members and affiliates from around the world. IPA's mission is to salute the achievements of the world's finest photographers, to discover new and emerging talent, and to promote the appreciation of photography. 2003 marked the first annual awards ceremony acknowledging photographers’ achievements from around the world in various categories. Visit www.photoawards.com.

About the Lucie Awards
The Lucie Award made its debut at the Gala Awards Ceremoney on December 7, 2003 in Los Angeles. The statue was influenced by two photographers, Frantisek Drtikol and E. O. Hoppe. "Lucie" is the sculptural form inspired by the synthesis of two famous photographic images from the first half of the twentieth century. Taken from the Latin word, "lux" for "light", Lucie is a tribute to the influence and role light plays in photography.

Contact:
Michaelle Burstin, Event Director, Lucie Awards: 310-659-0122, mburstin@photoawards.com