Best of Photojournalism 2009: Video 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.

Spot News Finalists

(In Alphabetical Order)

“Chainsaws, Trucks, and People”: Joe Connors, News 12
“Everybody’s Happy”: Darren Durlach, WBFF/Baltimore
“Freedom Met its Limits”: Jonathan Malat, KARE/Minneapolis
“Old Faithful”: Corky Scholl, KUSA/Denver
“Summer in the Hood”: Everett McEwan, KWGN/Denver
“Wasted Water”: Todd Rogenthien, KHOU/Houston

Spot News Winners

1st: “Freedom Met It’s Limits”; Jonathan Malat, KARE/Minneapolis
2nd: “Old Faithful”; Corky Scholl, KUSA/Denver
3rd: “Summer in the Hood”; Everett McEwan, KWGN/Denver
HM: “Everybody’s Happy”; Darren Durlach, WBFF/Baltimore

Judges’ comments

Terry Bulger

“Freedom has its limits”- First this is a legitimate hard news story, that covers what has the potential to be an explosive event and then turns into such. Completely captures the moments as the mayhem is unfolding....seems to do it in a fair and honest way...might have liked to hear from the police as to why so many were locked up, what did they do that forced arrests to happen. Maybe not possible considering the photog’s arrest.

“Old Faithful”- Unusual....nice build to the reveal of the water burst...turned it into a story more than an event.

“Everybody’s Happy”....it was built to look like the school had blown up, and then turns out to be a scare over pollen...I understand that’s the reality you dealt with, but maybe it needed some greater reference to that, like an official or someone saying...” Hey we treat them all the same, ya never know when something will be real...” I’m just concerned we went for good TV here at the expense of Honest Journalism. Still I appreciate the effort.

Scott Jensen

The only reason I can imagine the quality of spot news stories have declined in recent years is because we’re required to turn them so fast there isn’t time to craft a piece we think is worthy. I’m not sure that’s true but something is happening here. There used to be wonderfully compelling spot news stories. I honestly don’t know where “Freedom Met it’s Limit” would fall if being compared to other recent spot news winners, but it’s the only story from this group even coming close to being ranked as legendary. Let’s step it up and enter!

Jon Knorr

We had a clear winner in this category. The protests at the Republican Convention made for a great news story. With every thing from chanting to marching to smoke grenades to the imminent arrest of the photographer, this story made for great television. This story was the class of the field.

“Old Faithful” had some good reaction from bystanders during a watermain break. In “Summer in the Hood”, the photographer was able to get close enough to get the suspects in a stabbing getting arrested.

Shane McEachern

This was a fairly easier category to judge, with “Freedom Met Its Limit” taking 1st place. It had all the essential elements to a good spot news story, and yet again the writing, natural sounds and the dramatic situation kept it head and shoulders above the rest. To capture protests as they unravel is a hard gig and they did the job nicely. This was a clear winner. It is hard to believe the police arrested journalists as well as protestors in this situation... frustrated as they might have been.... what gives with the ole First Amendment these days?

2nd “OLD FAITHFUL” - was a nice job at a routine spot news call - yes a water main break. Interviews with kids and families in the neighborhood made this story come alive, and the reveal of the geyser was just at the right time. The writing held it al together nicely. A nice spot news story from beginning to end, only second because the first one was a breaking event with a much more sensational unfolding event to cover.

3rd “SUMMER IN THE HOOD” - good hustle on a breaking event, got the job done. A little crazy on the audio weaving, pay attention to those NATS sometimes, it got distracting here and there and made the story a little annoying. Nitpicking aside most of the guys liked this for the coverage and the good job of capturing a wild breaking news situation.

HM “EVERYBODY’S HAPPY” - good job, way to hustle on20a fast moving story. This one would have gone a little higher in the ranking if some didn’t feel it was over-sensationalizing a non-story event. It captured the unfolding situation rather well, all the right shots in all the right places, writing was clever, and according to my notes nothing really bothered me on this one. Good job.

Tom Sharkey

I think the headline for this category would be missed opportunities. There were a number of stories that could have been so much more. “Freedom met it’s limit” was the clear #1 because it rose far above anything else this year. The photojournalist was caught up in the middle of the police riot and still had the presence of mind to keep getting the shot despite flash-bangs going off all around him. The other three were a toss-up, (seems to be the hallmark of this years contest).

“Old faithful” grabbed second because of they didn’t give the story away at the beginning and they had some cute moments with the kids.

“Summer in the hood” and “Everybody’s Happy” seemed to use quick shots and nats to make the stories more dramatic, I can forgive Summertime for some of that but in “Everybody’s Happy” the end didn’t justify that kind of drama.

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