Year

2020

Result

Winner

Category

Nikon Community/Regional Prize

Publications

Illawarra Mercury

Sylvia Liber

“Strength and Resilience”

Sylvia Liber said: “From a dramatic weather occurrence to the extremes of the human emotions, to shooting with compassion and care as well as courage and no fear. It’s capturing these moments that inspires and excites me every day.”

Sylvia Liber has been a passionate visual storyteller at the Illawarra Mercury for more than 20 years. As a regional photojournalist, she spends her workdays covering a variety of assignments from a simple weather photo to the extremes of human emotions. In recent years, Liber has been shooting underwater portraits and is now addicted. It’s capturing these raw and diverse moments that inspires her every day. Her accolades include four other Nikon-Walkley Prizes.

Judges’ comments

“Sylvia Liber’s body of work highlights the diversity of her range. Covering major events as well as personal stories, her work demonstrates the intimacy and trust a regional photographer can build with their community.”

Vickie Roach is a proud Aboriginal woman who has not cut her hair in decades – in defiance of the strict foster mother who used to chop it off as punishment, and the men who later used her long mane to inflict pain on her, by holding her down and dragging her around by it. Born to a Stolen Generations mother, and then taken and sent to live with a strict, religious family in Sydney's western suburbs, Vickie became a runaway at nine and a heroin user by 14, eventually turning to prostitution to stay alive on the streets of Kings Cross. She has spent much of her 60 years in and out of prison. When released for the last time in 2008 felt she’d finally managed to break free of the system. While imprisoned she attained a master's degree, and in 2007 gained national prominence for her role in a ground-breaking legal challenge in the High Court that restored the right to vote to prisoners serving less than three years.

Fierce

Vickie Roach is a proud Aboriginal woman who has not cut her hair in decades – in defiance of the strict foster mother who used to chop it off as punishment, and the men who later used her long mane to inflict pain on her, by holding her down and dragging her around by it. Born to a Stolen Generations mother, and then taken and sent to live with a strict, religious family in Sydney's western suburbs, Vickie became a runaway at nine and a heroin user by 14, eventually turning to prostitution to stay alive on the streets of Kings Cross. She has spent much of her 60 years in and out of prison. When released for the last time in 2008 felt she’d finally managed to break free of the system. While imprisoned she attained a master's degree, and in 2007 gained national prominence for her role in a ground-breaking legal challenge in the High Court that restored the right to vote to prisoners serving less than three years.

Returning home for the first time since the Currowan fire swept ferociously through their town on New Year's Eve, residents of Conjola Park embrace after being confronted with the devastation.

Loss and Heartbreak

Returning home for the first time since the Currowan fire swept ferociously through their town on New Year's Eve, residents of Conjola Park embrace after being confronted with the devastation.

After two weeks in a floating quarantine prison docked in Port Kembla Harbour, crew on board the Ruby Princess cruise ship, wearing gloves and face masks, wave with joy and relief as they deparin buses. Over three days, a total of 542 crew members began their repatriation journey, getting bused from the port to Sydney hotels before finally making the trek home.

Repatriation

After two weeks in a floating quarantine prison docked in Port Kembla Harbour, crew on board the Ruby Princess cruise ship, wearing gloves and face masks, wave with joy and relief as they deparin buses. Over three days, a total of 542 crew members began their repatriation journey, getting bused from the port to Sydney hotels before finally making the trek home.

A Tapitallee resident can only look to the sky to see whether his home would survive the Currowan fire. A fire-generated thunderstorm formed over Nowra, creating its own pyro-cumulonimbus activity and causing erratic winds and dangerous fire activity. A southerly change arrived soon afterwards, pushing the fire towards Kangaroo Valley and sparing his home.

Firestorm

A Tapitallee resident can only look to the sky to see whether his home would survive the Currowan fire. A fire-generated thunderstorm formed over Nowra, creating its own pyro-cumulonimbus activity and causing erratic winds and dangerous fire activity. A southerly change arrived soon afterwards, pushing the fire towards Kangaroo Valley and sparing his home.

Oceanna

Oceanna