With images of misery and joy, in color and in stark black and white, Boston Globe photographers captured first-place laurels in 8 of the 15 categories in the Boston Press Photographers Association’s annual Pictures of the Year contest.

Globe photographer Bill Greene captured four first prizes — sports action, sports picture story, feature picture story, and video/multimedia — and numerous second and third places and honorable mentions, on his way to being named the group’s photographer of the year. Globe photographers also won first place in the feature, portrait, and pictorial categories and joined in a victory in the team category.