HATTIESBURG - Two University of Southern Mississippi alumni whose photographic coverage of Hurricane Katrina's impact helped earn their newspapers a shared Pulitzer Prize say recovery from the storm is slow, but evident.

Tim Isbell and Ted Jackson, both news photographers for the Sun Herald and Times-Picayune newspapers, respectively, were in Hattiesburg last week to be inducted into the university's School of Mass Communication and Journalism Hall of Fame, held during the Southern Miss Photojournalism Summit.

The two were members of the papers' news teams that shared the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for public service for coverage of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The Aug. 29, 2005 storm took the lives of more than 1,800 people and caused more than $80 billion in damages.

"The recovery has been slow and painful for many people, and government has failed us on every level," said Jackson, who has been a member of the Times-Picayune staff for 23 years. "So many people are far from being whole, both in their property and their soul.the scars run so deep that they will be there forever."

Like Jackson , Isbell also believes the recovery is slow but that progress can be seen. Even days after the storm, he tried to stay positive, jokingly describing surrounding piles of debris as "getting neater."

"I'm really optimistic about the coast," he said. "But the full recovery is probably five, 10 years down the road. The main challenges are getting the middle class back down here and dealing with these insurance issues."

During the summit they presented examples of their work, along with Southern Miss photojournalism alums Steve Gardner, Jeff McAdory, Michael McCarter, and Marianne Todd, who were also inducted into the Hall of Fame. Retired Southern Miss professors Jim Bishop and Ed Wheeler were also inducted that day.

Isbell and Jackson 's work capture a multitude of images, including poignant displays of the storm's emotional toll on residents in the affected areas. The experience has given them an insight into what it will take to heal - both emotionally and physically - from what has been called the worst natural disaster in modern U.S. history.

A photo Jackson took of a woman on her knees crying for help in front of the Morial Convention Center in New Orleans captures the desperation of the thousands who fled their flooded homes and neighborhoods for safety there and at the Louisiana Superdome, where they waited days for food, water and medical attention.

The heartache displayed in that photo and many others means Jackson often finds himself as much in the role of grief counselor as photographer. He has freely lent the subjects of his work an ear and words of comfort as they grapple with the challenges of their life post-Katrina.

Jackson said a year ago he took a friend on a tour of the city, and it was then he began to notice that, slowly, some of the scenes of destruction that he photographed were gone. Efforts to clear away debris and damaged buildings and reinforce levees are going forward, but what is also needed is more patience for the work of recovery, he said. 

"Things are starting to move in a positive direction. We just have to come to terms with the fact that this (recovery) is going to take a long time," Jackson said.

Jackson likens his work as a journalist to document Katrina's impact on the city he loves to rushing to cover the scene of an accident, and then discovering the victim is your son or daughter. "The impact is all too personal, he said. "It's impossible to stay detached."

He has avoided going to the Mississippi Coast to see the impact of Katrina there. On a personal level, covering New Orleans for the last two years since the storm has been more than enough for the veteran photojournalist to absorb without seeing the devastation to his home state. "This has had a profound effect on me," Jackson said.

Working 14-hour days after the storm, Isbell said he began to grow weary of shooting scenes of destruction. "You just wanted to jump off a bridge," he said of the constant reminders of the storm's wrath. "I wanted to get a picture of something that expressed hope."

That opportunity presented itself the weekend after the storm, when the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer in Biloxi held a service next to the slab where the church stood before being wiped away by Katrina. Isbell snapped a picture of a member of the church's congregation, Chloe Guice, draping an American flag over a cross left standing at the church's foundation.

"To me, that said 'Were coming back.'"

David Tisdale is a senor reporter in Marketing and Public Relations at the University of Southern Mississippi and a master's student in mass communication in the School of Mass Communication and Journalism. The After Katrina Newswire is a project of the School of Mass Communication and Journalism at USM (www.usm.edu/afterkatrina). This story can be reprinted with this credit included.