Best of Photojournalism 2009: Video News Photography: Winners

Friday, February 27th

Thursday, February 26th

Wednesday, February 25th

General News

Tuesday, February 24th

Monday, February 23rd

Sunday, February 22nd

Clips from the Video News Photography and Editing winners in the Best of Photojournalism 2009 are now viewable at Poynter Online.

Chat with Al Tompkins and the BOP TV judges — live each day at 12:00 EST. Ask the judges questions and hear what they love and have learned from the entries they have seen each day.

General News Finalists

(In Alphabetical Order)

“Bonds Baseball”: Ken Mostek, KUSA/Denver
“Clifford”: Jonathan Malat, KARE/Minneapolis
“A Detourist Attraction”: Andy Shilts, KMSP/Minneapolis
“Forgive and Go On”: Kyle Cooper, WHTM/Harrisburg
“Moment to be Soft”: Andy Miller, WAVY/Portsmouth
“Park County Snow”: Ken Mostek, KUSA/Denver
“Surrounded by Family”: Michael DelGiudice, WNBC/New York
“The Summer to Park and Swim”: Andy Shilts, KMSP/Minneapolis
“Tis the Season for Travel”: Everett McEwan, KWGN/Denver

General News Winners

1st: “Clifford”; Jonathan Malat, KARE/Minneapolis
2nd: “Tis the Season for Travel”; Everett McEwan, KWGN/Denver
3rd: “Surrounded by Family”; Michael DelGiudice, WNBC/New York
HM: “The Summer to Park and Swim”; Andy Shilts, KMSP/Minneapolis
HM: “Bonds Baseball”; Ken Mostek, KUSA/Denver

Judges’ Comments

Terry Bulger

Well we spent several hours trying to figure this one out, lots of discussion, and in the end it came down to a vote, we could not resolve this one verbally in the room.

It’s fair to say the room was split on the slotting of the final 5 finalists, and there was not one story that overwhelmed the rest of the field.

“The Summer to Park and Travel” attempted and for the most part succeeded in taking mundane 90 second, we’ve seen them 100 times stories and through effort and creativity turned them into nice pieces.

“Surrounded by Family” had the Best Photography of the Bunch.

“Clifford” had by far the best can’t miss character.

Scott Jensen

“Lucy’s Café” is my favorite story in this category, but it wasn’t a finalist. The judging panelists all have a wide variety and apparently quite specific opinions of what makes good TV. That’s a good thing. We had to vote on these top five, twice. “Clifford” and “Season” were tied on points for first place after the first vote. Clifford won 3-2 in the head-to-head second vote. In our opinion, all of these stories had issues; “Clifford” had the least.

That being said, “Clifford” has the primary element many of us look for in a story; character. And it’s technically the cleanest too. Those are the reasons it placed first. I feel young photographers and solo video journalists should study this piece for the sequence shooting and editing, and for the writing as well. It is a very well executed daily turn from two of the best in local news.

Jon Knorr

Another tough category to judge. Everyone had their own favorite and no two judges agreed. There was even talk of bringing in a story that didn’t make the final cut because one judge liked it more than any of the finalists. It wasn’t easy, an argument could have been made for any of the top five, and the other finalists for that matter. It definitely could have gone another way. “Clifford” had the most memorable character. “Bonds Baseball” had mystery with the unveiling of the later reveal of the person that had possession of the ball. “Surrounded by Family” interviews were shot very creatively as were “Season for Travel” and “The Summer to Park and Swim”

Shane McEachern

This possibly was the hardest judging we’ve had all week. There was a 5 way tie at the end of this. The winner won by a vote of 3-2. That said, all of the contestants deserve a pat on the back, it was good to see daily turns handled with such care.

Nitpicking on GENERAL NEWS entries: and the judges asked me to write about this. We saw about 5 other very solid finalists with good stories, solid shots, characters, etc. We had to knock a couple out before the final round because of the same problem showing up in these packages over and over again. So here goes: If you are going to take the time to get an interview with someone please mic them properly. We saw microphones hanging off the backs of shirts, attached to reporters arms, shoved under noses, slung over shoulders, clipped to the fronts of shirts, hanging out of pants pockets in big coils and sitting on the couch next to the interview FRAMED into the shot 3 different times in the same package. I know the argument can be made, “well, we didn’t have enough time” or “we were trying to get the interview quickly” or “they were in a hurry” but it really doesn’t take that much time to mic somebody properly... especially if it is a general news story, the person is in their house, the person is wearing a t-shirt, or the person is seen wearing the mic properly later on in the package. It has popped up in the contests quite a bit and I can only say take the 30 seconds to ask somebody to lift their shirt and put the mic on the right way. It is only in your best interest in the long run. It is very distracting and can take away from the story. Oh well, enough nitpickin’.... I just wanted to share a frustration of the judges with you.

“CLIFFORD” - This was a nice story, I just didn’t think it was a first place on this one. I really liked the story overall but felt the character and subject matter lacked a little compared to some of the other entries. Great shooting on this one gave it the prize in the long run... plus the top notch reporting, again, handily helped it win. I just thought the piece was a little lackluster on the content end of things.

“SEASON FOR TRAVEL” - I liked this one a lot, lots of great airport shots, fast moving, capturing the element of Thanksgiving travel and the hustle and bustle of the commute. A nice variety of interviews, locales, a choir in the background, it felt like we were there on Turkey Day. I felt this was a good representation of what we do every day as photojournalists. It was not a “next level” story, but most in this category weren’t next level pieces (with the exception of BONDS BASEBALL which was my favorite in the 5 finalists bunch).

“SURROUNDED BY FAMILY” - was a nicely shot story, a beginning, middle, and end. This was well done all around except in the subject matter department and placed highly for the photography and editing. I just think it wasn’t as good as some of the others I saw today. Great effort on this one.

“SUMMER TO PARK AND SWIM” - excellent use of sound, sound, sound.... nice quick edits and tight shots to get the viewer to watch and stay interested. On the nitpick meter some of the judges felt it didn’t get a chance to breathe in many ways and the constant barrage of mediums, medium tights, and medium wides were getting in the way of our viewing experience. It needed the occasional super-wide freedom shot and less of the same ole, same ole. Great finished product though, and the kid really made the package come to life.

“BOND’S BASEBALL” - This was my favorite of the batch that went to finals. I really liked the over-all feel of this piece and it was the most memorable for me of these five. The story, writing, and lighting were all superb and the photography rocked with a million angles on a standard press conference at ESPN ZONE, but It got docked because of some shaky-cam here and there. Great job on this one, but unfortunately the judges split on this one as well.

Just a great sign to see so many nice GA stories coming through to the final round and this category was a blast to judge. Great job to all who entered the competition.

Tom Sharkey

This was the hardest one to judge yet, I think everyone had their favorites for different reasons. My favorite was “The Summer To Park & Swim”. That’s not to say it was the best or most well crafted story. Indeed a lot of shots were repetitive and one was out of focus but the totality of the shots and it’s fast pace made what would have been a boring everyday piece memorable. It ultimately came down to a vote for first and second place, the rest were decided by a points system. “Clifford” was my second place choice and I am satisfied it placed first. It’s a wonderful character study from team Huppert-Malat.

“Tis The Season For Travel” probably had the most General News slant mixing holiday travel information in an entertaining way.

“Surrounded By Family” also had one of the most General News slants from the finalists it also used natural sound and quick edits to grab and hold your attention.

Finally, “Bonds Baseball” was at the bottom of my list only because it used full screen graphics within the story. It was an entertaining way to do a press conference and the story unfolded as it went on.

There were also some pretty good stories that didn’t make the finalist list. If you put another group of photographers together they very well may have picked another group of finalists, we’re certainly not perfect, but I think that each of us brings our own storytelling ability to the table and are genuinely trying to do the best we can do to pick the kind of stories that represent our craft well.

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