National Press Photographers Association (N.P.P.A.) The National Press Photographers Association (N.P.P.A.) began with a 1945 conference of eighteen photographers from the major United States newspapers. A. Aubrey Bodine represented the Baltimore "Sunpapers". He worked closely with the NPPA’s first president, Joseph Costa, a New York Daily News photographer, in the forming of a national organization to promote respect and recognition for the profession of photojournalism. Costa said of Bodine: “I considered him certainly the finest print maker I have ever known and the greatest photographic pictorialist of his time-if not all-time greatest.” In 1948, the NPPA inaugurated its annual awards for photographic achievements. Bodine’s images competed with pictures of hard "spot" news. His photographs were published in a newspaper, but they were from a different genre that set him apart from the majority of NPPA members. He was a feature photographer working with the advantage of a public that was thrilled when Bodine arrived to take a picture. He had none of the daily pressures to produce timely "spot" news photos. His editors gave him flexibility with photo assignments. In 1953 Bodine was named a "Fellow of the National Press Photographers’ Association" in "recognition of his outstanding achievement as photographer, pictorialist and exhibitor in photographic salons throughout the world and for the attention and recognition which such success has brought to the profession of photojournalism." Bodine was first photographer to have a Fellowship in both the N.P.P.A. and the Photographic Society of America (P.S.A.). In 1957, Bodine was named "Newspaper-Magazine Photographer of the Year", a distinction created by the judges specifically for A. Aubrey Bodine. The NPPA April, 1957 newsletter elaborated on the new award: "Bodine had the highest point score in the whole competition. …however the judges felt a distinction had to be made between a photographer covering assignments for Sunday feature use like Bodine, and one covering general assignments—daily spot-news events." Judging exhibitions During his exhibition years Bodine judged in many major Eastern shows. He was interested in, and frequently commented on all aspects of judging photography contests. Recognition Bodine’s work gained visibility outside of Maryland and the P.S.A.. Bodine images appeared in the first three issues of "U.S. Camera" magazine: a shot entitled "Two Nuns" in the 1935 premiere issue, an untitled industrial image in 1936, and "Contour Plowing" in 1937. Organized in New York City, with T. J. Maloney as editor and Edward Steichen guiding the