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In late February, award-winning photojournalist Matt McClain of The Washington Post was recognized by the annual Best of Photojournalism contest sponsored by National Press Photographers Association (NPPA). Earlier that month, McClain and 300+ Post journalists were laid off as the publication restructured.
McClain personifies a layoff irony: The Washington Post excelled in competition thanks to high-performing journalists no longer employed by the publication.
A couple of points of context:
- Historically, The Washington Post has done well in photography contests, including Pictures of the Year-International, a program of the Reynolds Institute of Journalism at the Missouri School of Journalism.
- Due to gaps between time periods eligible for awards and the announcement of awards, winners’ employment status can change. The scale of layoffs/staff changes at The Washington Post, combined with its recent success in competition, makes this irony stand out.
McClain won first place in the Still Photojournalism/Politics Story category of the 2026 Best of Photojournalism awards and placed third as Photojournalist of the Year. He and colleagues at The Washington Post won the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for coverage of the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.
The bio on McClain’s website says: “Matt McClain is a former staff photojournalist at The Washington Post and is currently a freelance editorial and commercial photographer in the Washington, DC region.”
Former Washington Post colleague Jahi Chikwendiu won two second-place Still Photography awards in the 2026 Best of Photojournalism contest. Chikwendiu took a buyout from the publication in July 2025
Personnel changes at The Washington Post have also affected videographers.
Reshma Kirpalani, a 14-time Emmy-winning video journalist and filmmaker, was a National Video Journalist at The Washington Post.
Her work and The Washington Post are honored repeatedly in the list of 2026 Best of Photojournalism winners for online video excellence.
“After several days of reflection,” Kirpalani said on LinkedIn, “I’m sharing that I was laid off from The Washington Post… along with many of my video colleagues and roughly a third of the newsroom.”
Kirpalani added that she is “brimming with ideas” for telling important stories through video, photography, social media, audio, and text.
She concluded her online post with links to samples of her work:
- “Undocumented mom is hopeful about Trump,” which earned Kirpalani a first-place Best of Photojournalism award for online video.
- “She spoke to FEMA. Then she was put on leave,” which won first place for The Washington Post’s Online Video Team.
Video journalist Hadley Green started as an intern at The Washington Post in 2021; she advanced to producing and editing enterprise stories on the National and International desks.
Her entry “For Black federal workers, DOGE cuts threaten stability,” won a third-place online video award in the 2026 Best of Photojournalism competition.
Like other laid-off journalists, Green shared work memories on social media: “I’ll always remember going to ‘somewhere in the American South’ and capturing the melting of Charlottesville’s Robert E. Lee statue… ”
Laid-off award winner Green expresses let’s-see-what-happens optimism: “They may have locked us out of the building and Slack but hard drives are forever,” she declared on Instagram.
“I’m really grateful to have worked as a video journalist for the last five years at The Washington Post. While they laid off the video team last week, I know there’s a vast network of Post journalists now out in the world and I’m excited to see what we do next.”
Image credits: Header photo created using an asset licensed via Depositphotos.com.
About the author: Ken Klein lives in Silver Spring, Maryland; he is retired after a career in politics, lobbying, and media including The Associated Press and Gannett in Florida. Klein is an alumnus of Ohio University and a member of the Dean’s Advisory Council of the Scripps College of Communication. Professionally, he has worked for Fort Myers News-Press (Gannett), The Associated Press (Tallahassee), Senator Bob Graham, and the Outdoor Advertising Association of America (OAAA).
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