William Snyder

Four-time Pulitzer Prize winning photographer and Editor William Snyder is Professor and Chair of the Photojournalism Program at his alma mater, the Rochester Institute of Technology.

After graduating from RIT with Highest Honors in 1981, Snyder joined The Miami News and two years later moved to the photography staff of The Dallas Morning News. During his 15 years as a staff photographer Snyder won three Pulitzers Prizes; the Pulitzer Prize in Explanatory Journalism in 1989 along with a DMN reporter and artist for their special report on a 1985 airplane crash, the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography for his pictures of ill and orphaned children living in desperate conditions in Romania and, along with fellow photographer and RIT grad Ken Geiger, the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for Spot News photography for their photographic coverage of the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain.

In 1998 Snyder changed roles and became a picture editor/manager. He served as the Night Photo Editor, Assignments Editor, Metro/Suburban Photo Editor, and Assistant Director of Photography in the DMN’s aggressive Collin County bureau.

In 2005 he was named the DMN’s Director of Photography and guided the photography staff to the 2006 Pulitzer Prize in Breaking News for their coverage of Hurricane Katrina. He also produced “Eyes of The Storm”, a 256-page book featuring the DMN photo staff’s images from hurricanes Katrina and Rita that sold over 14,000 copies. In September 2006, Snyder took a buy-out from the DMN.

Snyder moved to RIT in 2008 and serves as the Chair of the Photojournalism Program. Since arriving at RIT, he has been chosen as an RIT Outstanding Alumnus and awarded the Isaiah Thomas Award in Publishing and the Frank J. Romano Endowed Prize for Publishing Entrepreneurship.

He has won numerous awards from local, state, national and international competitions, lectured to numerous universities and journalism associations, has been published in dozens of publications and has worked with the rock group The Who for over 15 years.