Hasta La Ideas

The International Center of Photography has announced the winners of the 2011 Infinity Awards. Now in their 27th year, the awards recognize major contributions and emerging talent in photography. This year’s honorees will be feted at a May 10 gala in New York City. The legendary Elliott Erwitt (his 1963 photo “57th Street Gallery” is at right) is the winner of the Lifetime Achievement Award. Now 82, he was introduced to photography while still in high school—Hollywood High School. Between classes, the young Erwitt worked in a commercial darkroom processing “signed” prints for fans of movie stars. The Cornell Capa Award goes to photojournalist Ruth Gruber, who turns 99 this year and is the subject of a new documentary. Later this year, the work of Erwitt and Gruber will be featured in two major exhibitions at ICP. Other Infiniti Award winners include Peter van Agtmael (Young Photographer), Abelardo Morrell (Art), Adrees Latif (Photojournalism), and Viviane Sassen (Applied/Fashion/Advertising Photography). The ICP Trustees Award will be presented to the Durst family. Critic Gerry Badger‘s book of essays, The Pleasure of Good Photographs (Aperture), has won the writing award, while the exhibition catalogue From Here to There: Alec Soth’s America (Walker Art Center) has taken top honors in the publication category.

Meanwhile, ICP just won an award of its own. The institution announced today that it has been selected to receive a “Save America’s Treasures” grant from the National Park Service and the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities. Made in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts, the $57,425 grant will support the systematic organization and preservation of negatives, personal papers, and film materials in ICP’s Robert Capa and Cornell Capa Archive.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.