Photojournalists Mary Chind Pulitzer Prize for Photography

Photojournalist Mary Chind of The Des Moines Register was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography for her powerful image of a drowning rescue. The photograph had already received top honours from the National Press Photographers Association in its Best of Photojournalism competition, where it won first place in the Domestic News category. Chind’s image captures the dramatic moment a rescuer, suspended in a makeshift harness, reaches down to save Patricia Ralph-Neely after her boat went over the Center Street Dam.

As emergency crews struggled from the riverbank, construction worker Jason Oglesbee rigged himself to a crane and was lowered into position, repeatedly reaching for Ralph-Neely as she surfaced in the churning water until he pulled her to safety. The photograph dominated the Register’s front page the following day and, after distribution by the Associated Press, gained widespread international attention. Ralph-Neely, 75, later described Oglesbee as her “angel,” though he remained humble, saying, “I’m no hero… someone died today,” referring to her husband, Alan, who drowned in the incident. Oglesbee passed away on March 29, 2017, after collapsing in Creston.