Best of Photojournalism 2009: TV News Photography: Winners

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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.

Solo Video Journalist Finalists

(In Alphabetical Order)

“Descending Dollar”: Michelle Michael, AFN Europe
“9/11 Remembered”: David Delozier, KUSA/Denver
“Surgery for Izzy”: David Delozier, KUSA/Denver

Solo Video Journalist Winners

1st: “9/11 Remembered”; David Delozier, KUSA,Denver
2nd: “Descending Dollar”; Michelle Michael, AFN Europe
3rd: “Surgery for Izzy”; David Delozier, KUSA/Denver

Judges’ Comments

Terry Bulger

“9/11 Remembered” - Nicely done, this is a story we’ve seen dozens of times, but this one was simple and respectful, well shot with well chosen sound.

“Descending Dollar”- Good writing and editing, great extra effort on stand-up for one man band.

“Surgery for Izzy”- Never have seen this story before…that’s nice….good job in connecting the emotion between the two.

Scott Jensen

There should be dozens of entries in this category. Solo video journalism is what so many of us are practicing. Perhaps awards ultimately don’t matter in our current climate. But, the reporters turned VJs who are outwardly excited about their newfound craft encourage me. Michelle Michael has produced, by herself, some of the most creative general news stand-ups I’ve seen in the last few years. The stories she shoots, writes and edits rise above the norm we’ve seen this week from the majority of two-person crews.

Let’s face it. It makes business sense to move toward the VJ model if one person can better produce the stories.

There is great solo work out there. I wish we saw more of it today.

Generally speaking, TV photojournalists understand what drives compelling television; characters and moments. Dave Delozier proved that in this category. He has been a pillar of photojournalism for decades. There isn’t a better photographer to help lead us into this next era of local news. Thank you Dave! It seems he’s embracing his new job description. That excites me. To be successful in our industry it seems clear we have to move in this direction. I think we should enjoy it.

Jon Knorr

There were not enough entries in this category we would have like to see a lot more entries. The numbers are not what they should be. Unfortunately we had to disqualify two of the entries for putting them in two separate categories.

We felt “9/11 Remembered” was the best of the bunch. The story was well put together with some excellent shots. The reporter has an excellent eye, capturing some beautiful reflections and close-ups.

“Descending Dollar” to a non-visual story and was able to make it visual. This was probably the best edited entry. The reporter did a multi part standup and her shooting was impeccable.

“Surgery for Izzy” was able to take us into a place were most of us have never been. It had a lot of good nat-sound, letting it flow through the story.

Shane McEachern

This is a fairly new category so I am told and the video entries were pretty slim. I wish there were more entries in this category for this year.... I know there are alot of VJ’s out there with more and more on the way, so hopefully in the future there will be more to come! One story stood out above the rest.

1st “9/11 REMEMBERED” was a well shot, nicely edited, and got the story through and through, This is a good example of where we are going with photojournalism and where we are going with reporting. This won’t work for all news stories but it definitely worked well here.

2nd “DESCENDING DOLLAR” a nice package, variety of natural sound, 3 part standup is well done with good info throughout. I assume this was for a financial type newscast, very good and nicely done. Some technical issues but overall the judges felt this is what the category was all about.

3rd “SURGERY FOR IZZY” a sweet little dayturn, nicely done, well written overall and shot well. This had some nice moments and was a fine representation of the up and coming (or should I say already arrived) VJ trend. Good stuff here.

There were a couple more entries which showed hard work and creative standups and the only reason we didn’t reward an HM in this category was for some technical issues with one of the stories.

“FUELING THE FARM” is a nice piece with a innovative standup, there just needed to be a little more attention to details and composing shots a tad better. I hope to see more from this entrant in the years to come.... keep up the good work.

Tom Sharkey

This is a category I wish more Talented VJ’s would enter. We saw some decent pieces and some that struggled with technical problems but had some unique stand-ups. There is one VJ who is really starting to get it, he submitted two pieces but because of technical issues he didn’t make the cut. I think if those things are resolved he’s going to be a real player.

“9/11 Remembered” was our 1st place choice it was beautifully shot with some special moments.

“Descending Dollar” was next. This VJ took a non-visual story about money and made it special and visual, it was fast paced and easy to understand.

“Surgery For Izzy” had some really good moments, some of the shots were repetitive, but the pacing was good and there weren’t any bad shots.

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