Director's Choice: Pictures of the Year International occasionally recognizes meritorious coverage by visual journalists of significant news events or social issues from the past year. POY exercises this prerogative after judging has concluded and the acknowledgement is independent of the jury's decisions. Pictures of the Year International is proud to serve its educational mission.
Director's Choice St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Huy Mach
Michael Brown's mother, Lesley McSpadden, is comforted by her husband, Louis Head, after learning her 18-year-old son who was fatally shot in the middle Canfield Drive hours earlier after a confrontation with Ferguson policeman Darren Wilson on Aug. 9, 2014. The incident sparked a nationwide protest against police use of deadly force.