NEW YORK, NY.- The International Center of Photography announced the recipients of the 27th Annual Infinity Awards. Recognized around the world, the awards are widely respected as the leading honor for excellence in the field of photography. The 2011 honorees will be celebrated at a gala event on Tuesday, May 10, at Pier Sixty, Chelsea Piers, in New York City.

“Infinity Award recipients are dedicated to exploring photography’s cultural influence and how it opens new opportunities for communication and personal expression,” states ICP Ehrenkranz Director Willis E. Hartshorn. “This year’s recipients capture the importance of how photography shapes our sense of history in an ever more image-conscious world. We are pleased to recognize their achievements.”

Each year ICP acknowledges the work of those whose powerful images and words excite, engage, and enliven us. Since 1985, the annual ICP Infinity Awards recognize major contributions and emerging talent in the fields of photojournalism, art, fashion photography, publishing, and writing. More than 700 prominent individuals from the business, fashion, philanthropy, art, entertainment and photography worlds are present to celebrate the world’s leading photography professionals and demonstrate their commitment to creative expression and artistic achievement. The full range of ICP’s programs, including exhibitions, education, collections, and community outreach benefit from funds raised by the Infinity Awards.

THE 2011 RECIPIENTS

• Lifetime Achievement: Elliott Erwitt

• Cornell Capa Award: Ruth Gruber

• ICP Trustees Award: The Durst Family

• Young Photographer: Peter van Agtmael

•Writing: Gerry Badger, The Pleasures of Good Photographs

• Publication: Alec Soth, From Here to There:
Alec Soth’s America

• Art: Abelardo Morell

• Photojournalism: Adrees Latif

• Applied/Fashion/Advertising Photography: Viviane Sassen

Beginning May 20, 2011, the work of Erwitt and Gruber will also be featured in two major exhibitions at ICP.

Past winners of the top awards have included Robert Frank, Mary Ellen Mark, Marc Riboud, André Kertész, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Berenice Abbott, Richard Avedon, Harold Evans, Berndand Hilla Becher, Alexander Liberman, Gordon Parks, Helen Levitt, Annie Leibovitz, Lee Friedlander, William Klein, Susan Meiselas, Roy de Carava, Malick Sidibé, John G. Morris, and Karl Lagerfeld.