Carolyn Cole

Carolyn Cole
Cole speaks at Ohio University (2009)
Born	(1961-04-24) April 24, 1961 (age 55)
Education	Bachelor of Arts from the University of Texas at Austin Master of Arts from Ohio University

Carolyn Cole (born April 24, 1961) is a staff photographer for the Los Angeles Times. She won the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography in 2004 for her coverage of the siege of Monrovia in 2003, the capital of Liberia.

Cole graduated from The University of Texas in 1983 with a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in photojournalism. She earned her Master of Arts degree from the School of Visual Communication within the Scripps College of Communication at Ohio University.

She began her career in 1986 as a staff photographer with the El Paso Herald-Post, a position which she occupied until 1988. She then moved to the San Francisco Examiner for two years, before spending another two years as a freelance photographer in Mexico City, working with newspapers such as the Los Angeles Times, Detroit Free Press, and Business Week. In 1992, Cole returned to being a staff photographer, working for The Sacramento Bee, before moving to the Times in 1994.

In 1994, the same year she moved to the Times, she was recognized in their editorial awards for her pictures of the crisis in Haiti. The following year, she was recognized again, this time for her work in Russia. In 1997, she gained attention for her photographs of dying bank robber Emil Matasareanu, who had been shot after a nationally televised shootout with police. Her evidence was used in the wrongful death lawsuit filed by his family. Her pictures also helped the Times win a Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of the event. Later that year, she was named Journalist of the Year by the Times Mirror Corporation. In 2002, she received the National Press Photographers Association Newspaper Photographer of the Year award for the first time. In mid-2003, Cole went to Liberia, as rebels surrounded the capital, Monrovia, demanding the resignation of President Charles Taylor. This trip was to earn her the 2004 Pulitzer Prize, "for her cohesive, behind-the-scenes look at the effects of civil war in Liberia, with special attention to innocent citizens caught in the conflict." She won the 2003 George Polk Award for photojournalism.