Don Winslow leaves NPPA magazine for Globe-News
Donald Winslow, ‘76, retired as executive editor of News Photographer magazine, a publication of the National Press Photographers Association, after nearly 14 years in the position.
Winslow retired from the magazine to accept a new position as managing editor of the Amarillo (Texas) Globe-News.
A lifelong member of NPPA, Winslow led the magazine through the digital revolution and developed the publication’s web presence. But his association with NPPA began at Ernie Pyle Hall in the 1970s.
“Professors John Ahlhauser and Will Counts took me under their wings in the photojournalism program,” Winslow said in an email correspondence. “They told me if I ever wanted to achieve a professional status as a photojournalist that their teaching wasn’t going to be enough, and they told me to join NPPA.”
Winslow credits his first two professional jobs at The Wabash Plain Dealer and The Milwaukee Journal for his NPPA membership.
“Every job, every step up the career ladder, had, in some way, an association with NPPA,” he said.
Winslow served on the NPPA board of directors for years before Jim Gordon retired as editor of News Photographer. Winslow said he was thrilled to be recommended as Gordon’s replacement.
“It was the chance and the dream of a lifetime to become the producer of the monthly magazine that we had all been reading since our college days,” he said. “It was a fork in the road that changed my life and the life of my family.
Winslow traveled as he edited the magazine, teaching in Rome, Beijing and Lugano, Switzerland. He said he was thankful to be based in Austin, Texas, near his daughters and granddaughters
“I was hesitant to brag, but it was the best, best, best job in photojournalism for more than a decade,” he said. “The 13 years that NPPA entrusted the magazine to my hands were amazing.”
But when a vice president of the Amarillo Globe-News reached out to Winslow with an open editor’s role, Winslow was intrigued.
“I have always had newsprint and ink in my blood,” he said. “I grew up on newspapers, lived and loved newspapers.”
Winslow took time to consider the offer, but in the end, he couldn’t resist the opportunity.
“This was a chance for me to take a good team and then try to build a great team, supported by some smart bosses who know their stuff who were willing to take a chance on me,” he said of the offer. “Who could say no?”
After Winslow accepted the position at the Globe-News, he worked with NPPA to gradually transition responsibility to Tom Burton, new editor of News Photographer.
“I leave News Photographer magazine with no fears; Tom is exactly the kind of methodical journalist with an artist’s eye who will take the magazine to new heights,” Winslow said.
But Winslow isn’t retiring from photojournalism just yet. He said he hopes to continue to contribute to the magazine through columns and features in the coming years.
Winslow is also continuing his involvement with NPPA as a newly appointed board member of the National Press Photographers Foundation.
“Photojournalism isn’t something you can just wash off your hands one day and walk away,” he said. “No, it is who we are. So the truth of the matter is that I’m a photojournalist who learned through editing the magazine how to be a production manager, an editor, a team builder, a designer, a peacemaker and a voice for our profession.”