Best of Photojournalism 2009: Video News Photography: Winners

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.

Sports Feature Finalists

(In Alphabetical Order)

“Back Where She Belongs...in the Mountains”
Scott Jensen, KTUU/Anchorage
“A Bump in the Road”
Michael DelGiudice, WNBC/New York
“Courage to Sail On”
Jim Douglas, KARE/Minneapolis
“Defined by Seconds”
Anne Herbst, KUSA/Denver
“In the Mind, In the Moment”
Doug Burgess, WFAA/Dallas
“Keenan”
Jonathan Malat, KARE/Minneapolis
“Hockey Nerd”
Joe Connors, News12
“Not Your Kids League”
William Middeke, KARE/Minneapolis

Sports Feature Winners

1st
“Not Your Kids League”
William Middeke, KARE/Minneapolis
2nd
“Courage to Sail On”
Jim Douglas, KARE/Minneapolis
3rd
“Defined by Seconds”
Anne Herbst, KUSA/Denver
HM
“Back Where She Belongs...in the Mountains”
Scott Jensen, KTUU/Anchorage
HM
“A Bump in the Road”
Michael DelGiudice, WNBC/New York

Judges’ comments

Chair note-Scott Jensen was a finalist in this category. He was not in the judging room that chose his story as a finalist. The other judges did not know it was his story. And he did not choose the winners.

Terry Bulger
1st

Not Your Kids League- Really strong build-up on this story, just smooth and as close to seamless as possible. Just a unique way to get into the story.

Terrific editing...loved the camera moving to different places for what could have been a boring desk interview,, but it really was not. Great shot of the whiffle ball from behind the catcher, really showed more than words how difficult hitting the ball can be. Nice job in telling the story by reporter.

2nd

Courage to Sail On....beautifully handled video of the boats on the ice. This could not have been easy to shoot, but it was flawless.

3rd

Defined by Seconds....Great beginning to this story, not just playing with the time factor, but then connecting it with the importance of timing when it comes to swimming.

HM

This story is award worthy just for the decision by all involved to follow the moment of the rock falling, and completely re-direct the focus of the story.

The Mountain to Mountain idea worked well, and helped connect her passion for the outdoors with a passion and desire to overcome a difficult event in her life.

Ending needed just a little more Oomph...maybe a better shot or better sound of her going down the mountain again. Still a well done piece.

Jon Knorr

This was a tough category to judge. All the stories that made the final cut were good solid extraordinary well shot and written stories. The final pick was argued and changed many times. Kids league had a great surprise at the beginning , some great shots in the middle and great writing throughout. Though it won the other stories were as well shot and written. We felt Defined in Seconds could have used more time and Courage to Sail On could have been cut back. There was very little keeping any of the top stories apart.

Shane McEachern

A shame here because my favorite story was disqualified for having a bit too much file video.  Unless the 10% file video rule is eliminated this story would not have made it.  A shame because this was the most interesting of the bunch for me.   Overall SPORTS FEATURE fared better than the DOCUMENTARY category which only had 4 entries.  There were about 6-7 good pieces in this category, with 3-4 standing above the rest.  This seemed to be a much healthier category although alot of the entries were glorified sound/music pieces with too much bone and not enough meat which made interesting subject matter lose its appeal over time.  The stories that won seemed to bring a little more chow to the table and gave us something to munch on.

1st
NOT YOUR KIDS LEAGUE:  Flow, flow, flow.  This one had it all for me, nice, clean editing, Top shooting, solid shots, etc.  All of the soundbites had personality which worked well with the subject matter.   We really knew it is a fluffier Sports feature without the single driven character but the flow of it just worked.  I felt like I was there and that is a good feeling.
2nd
COURAGE TO SAIL ON: Nice storyline here, very tough, demanding shoot pulled off very well.  The formula and development of the story plus the character seemed a tiny bit forced to me.  Overall it painted a nice picture with solid story telling and pictures throughout.  Well done.
3rd
DEFINED BY SECONDS:  Great story, nice reveal, NATS weaving, and shooting throughout.  Nothing to complain about here and the story definitely holds up the standards of NPPA on all levels... but we felt the payoff wasn’t as good as it should have been at the end.  Seemed to lack the ending some of the other stories had.
HM
BACK WHERE SHE BELONGS:  I liked this story, even though it was minimal on character.  Excellent storytelling, good depth, a very interesting reveal and a compelling sports feature which shows the agony of defeat and rising above it all to keep living life.   Docked because of the beginning of the piece, some didn’t like the way the piece started out slow and lacked the attention grabbers the way the others did.  Good job.
Tom Sharkey

Not Your Kids League was the clear winner here, it had heart and you could almost smell and feel the dirt under their shoes.  I ducked when one shot had the ball come straight at the camera. As for second place Courage to sail on was a sucker punch story, you thought it was going in one direction and it went in another.  Some of the camera angles had to be tough to get, I know I gave points to the Photographer for hanging on to get some of those shots. One of the stories we liked had to be disqualified for use of too much home video footage,and the third place story I think ended too soon.

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