Maggie Steber
Resident Professional
Maggie Steber is an internationally-known documentary photographer whose work has appeared in magazines, book anthologies and in exhibitions around the world. She has traveled and worked in 54 foreign countries and her photographs are included in many private and museum collections. Her photographic work in Haiti over a 15-year period won Steber two major grants: the Alicia Patterson Foundation grant for journalistic exploration of a subject and the Ernst Haas Grant. She has also been a finalist twice for the Eugene Smith Grant for Humanistic Photography. Her Haiti work was published by the prestigious Aperture Foundation in a book entitled, Dancing on Fire: Photographs from Haiti by Maggie Steber. Steber’s clients include magazines throughout the world: National Geographic Magazine, The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, People Magazine, T.V. Guide, Merian Magazine, The London Sunday Times, The Independent, Newsweek, U.S. News & World Report, AARP Bulletin and numerous European magazines. Her list of honors includes:
• 2003 Medal of Honor for Contribution to Journalism, University of Missouri
• First Prize Spot News World Press Photo Foundation for coverage in Haiti
• First Prize Magazine News/Documentary NPPA Pictures of the Year
• The Leica Medal of Excellence in Photojournalism
• Overseas Press Club Award for Best Photographic Coverage from Abroad
• First Place for Best Book from Maine Photo Workshop Competition
• NPPA Second Prize Picture Editing for Special Sections, Miami Herald
• SND Gold Excellence Award for Special Sections, Miami Herald
• Alicia Patterson Foundation Grant for Journalists
• Ernst Haas Grant for photography through the Maine Workshops
• Two-time finalist for Eugene Smith Grant in Humanistic Photography
From 1999 to 2003, Steber became the Director of Photography for the Miami Herald and an Assistant Managing Editor for Photography and the Features/Style section of the paper. Under her guidance the Miami Herald photo department was twice a finalist (1999 & 2001) for the Pulitzer Prize in feature photography, and many Herald photographers won awards during her tenure. In 2000 the paper won a Pulitzer for its photographic and reporting coverage of the Elian Gonzalez story. Maggie is affiliated with the internationally renowned Garcia Media Group for the redesign of newspapers and magazines. She worked on the redesign of the Miami Herald and the English language Gulf News in Dubai, the Star of Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, and the Grand Rapids Press in Michigan. Maggie has worked closely with the photo department to revamp their visual philosophy and coverage approach as well as a new kind of way to use photography in the newly-designed paper. As well, she consulted and held workshops for designers and editors, and in 2006 held her second workshop in Dubai.
Steber regularly teaches for the International Center for Photography in New York City, the Santa Fe Workshops, and the Maine Photographic Workshops, as well as others overseas, and has lectured at newspaper workshops in Atlanta, New York, the Flying Short Course sponsored by the NPPA, and at universities nationwide. Maggie has served as a judge for the American journalism grant given by the Alicia Patterson Foundation, the NPPA Pictures of the Year competition sponsored by the University of Missouri, the Atlanta Photojournalism seminar, the Eisenstadt Awards sponsored by the International Center for Photography and the White House Press Photographers, among others. In 2005, she served for the 3rd time on the jury of the World Press Photo Foundation.
