Lynn Johnson

2022 Honoree / Achievement in Documentary

Lynn Johnson photographs the human condition. A regular contributor to National Geographic, she is known for finding beauty and meaning in elusive, difficult subjects—threatened languages, zoonotic disease, rape in the military ranks, the centrality of water in village life, mysteries of the brain. Hate Kills, her master’s thesis as a Knight Fellow at Ohio University, probed the impact of hate crimes.

At National Geographic Photo Camps, she helps at-risk youth find their creative voices. And at Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Public Communications, she developed a program that challenged master’s students to push past their comfort levels in pursuit of their stories’ truth.

She herself is committed to that search frame by frame. Johnson has worked for LIFE and Sports Illustrated and published 39 feature stories in National Geographic Magazine.

She is the recipient of awards including the Robert F. Kennedy Award, Chris Hondros Fund Award, National Geographic Society Covid-19 Emergency Grant and Pulitzer finalist on two occasions.

Website: www.lynnjohnsonphoto.com

Photo by Annie O’Neill