George Wilhelm named Sports Photo Editor

Deputy Managing Editor Colin Crawford's note to staff:

I am pleased to announce that George Wilhelm has been promoted to Sports Photo Editor. George has worked as a photo editor in Sports on a temporary basis for five years and has demonstrated strong skills and a wealth of knowledge while directing our Sports photo coverage.

George was a biology major at San Diego State University when he changed course midstream to study photojournalism at Pierce College. He earned an AA degree a week before starting his first job as a staff photographer at the Thousand Oaks News Chronicle in 1978. He moved on to The Simi Valley Enterprise in 1980 where he was eventually promoted to chief photographer. George joined The Times in 1986 in the Valley Edition.

During his years with The Times he has won numerous local, regional, and national awards for news, feature, and sports photography, including a 2nd place Sports Portfolio award from the University of Missouri Pictures of the Year competition. Most recently, George conceived of and worked with Times photographer Rob Gauthier on a project to chronicle the travels of hockey's Stanley Cup after the Anaheim Ducks had won the trophy in 2007. The project, published in a special section, won numerous awards, including the Sigma Delta Chi award for Sports Photography.