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Lucy Nicholson named AP director of photography

Executive Editor Julie Pace and Vice President and Head of Global News Production Derl McCrudden announced on Thursday a key appointment: Lucy Nicholson will join AP as its new director of photography.

Here is their memo to staff:

We are delighted to announce thatLucy Nicholson will be the next Director of Photography for The AssociatedPress. Lucy is an exceptionally talented photojournalist and newsroom leader,and the right person to take on this essential role at a time of significantchange and opportunity at the AP and across the industry.

AP Director of Photography Lucy Nicholson. (Photo courtesy Keston Duke)

Lucy has a trulyunique range of expertise and skill. She is an award-winning photographer,photo editor, videographer, writer and leader. She joins the AP from Reuters,where she has most recently led the agency’s photography in Europe, overseeinga team of 190 staff and freelance photographers in 50 countries. In that time,she led photo coverage of major stories including the war in Ukraine, managedworkflow changes to boost speed and competitiveness, and increased the genderdiversity of photographers in the region.

Lucy was previously astaff photographer for Reuters, based in Los Angeles for 17 years. Shewill be familiar to many of our field photographers from her coverage ofstories across the U.S. and around the world. She was part of the team that wonthe Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography in 2019 for coverage ofmigrants heading to the U.S., and has done everything from politics to soccer,demonstrations to climate change. She’s covered an expansive range of sports,including eight Olympics, 16 NBA finals and several NFL Super Bowls.

Lucy will be the firstwoman to serve as AP’s Director of Photography. She will be based in London andreport to Derl. She’ll work alongside Sara Gillesby, our head of global video,and Ravi Nessman, head of global text, and collaborate closely with regionaland beat team newsgathering leaders.

Originally from theU.K., Lucy is half-Polish. She has a master’s degree in journalism,science and climate from Columbia University, studied international politics atPenn State, and attended the Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY, where sheparticipated in a program on news innovation and leadership.

We expect Lucy to jointhe AP around the end of May, and we’ll make sure that everyone has theopportunity to hear from her when she formally starts.

We want to thank ourphotographers, editors and photo leaders for their feedback and insights duringthis process. We have an incredible photo legacy at AP, and we’re excited aboutthe future under Lucy’s leadership.

Julie and Derl

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