Pulitzer Prize-Winning Photographer to Present ‘The Human Toll of Toxic Pollution’

Larry C. Price

Larry C. Price Will Discuss Environmental and Health Reporting at 6 p.m., Thursday, April 26, in 204 Neff Hall

By Gerard Edic

Columbia, Mo. (March 23, 2018) — The Missouri School of Journalism will welcome two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Larry C. Price to campus April 26. The visit is part of the Smith/Patterson Science Journalism Fellowship and Lecture Series, a joint initiative of the Pulitzer Center Campus Consortium and the Missouri School of Journalism. The presentation is free and open to the public.

Price has traveled the world and documented international crises abroad, such as the 1980 coup d’etat in Liberia and the effects of mercury gold mining in Indonesia. He has worked for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Denver Post. Price, a Pulitzer grantee, continues to publish reports on global pollution, which, according to the Pulitzer Center, sickens and kills millions of people worldwide each year.

Price will discuss his environmental and health reporting during a talk, “The Human Toll of Toxic Pollution,” at 6 p.m. on Thursday, April 26, in 204 Neff Hall. Price will show images and share accounts of his work documenting health impacts from gold mining, battery recycling, lead mining, leather tanning and textile manufacturing in Asia and Africa. Free Shakespeare’s pizza will be available at 5:30 p.m.

“We’re thrilled to bring a master visual storyteller to Columbia. Larry’s work helps us to understand the global impacts of products we use every day,” said Assistant Professor Sara Shipley Hiles, who oversees the Smith/Patterson Fellowship Program.

In addition, the Journalism School will recognize the winner of the Smith/Patterson Pulitzer student fellowship. Last year’s winner, photojournalism master’s student Neeta Satam documented the threatened wetland ecosystem of Loktak Lake in India.

The Smith/Patterson Science Journalism Fellowship and Lecture Series was established in 2008 by Missouri alumnus Russell G. Smith II and his wife, Gail, to honor Joye Patterson, Smith’s former professor and mentor. Patterson was a faculty member from 1965 to 1989 at the Missouri School of Journalism, where she was credited by her peers with inventing the modern approach to teaching science writing.

In 2017, the Journalism School established a partnership with the Pulitzer Center to enhance the school’s emphasis on science, health and environmental journalism.

From Lee’s Summit, Missouri, Gerard Edic (BJ ’17) focused his journalism studies on strategic communication with a minor in history. He was  a contributing writer for Vox Magazine. 

Updated: October 30, 2020

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