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.

48 Hr. Web Finalists

(In Alphabetical Order)

“DNC Protest”
Garrett Hubbard USA Today
“In Beichuan, China, the Agony of Surviving”
Travis Fox, washingtonpost.com
“Memorial Flags”
Aaron Chimbel, WFAA/Dallas
“Praying for Benazir”
Travis Fox, washingtonpost.com
“Trick or Vote”
Everett McEwan, KWGN/Denver
“Walter Harris Funeral”
Brian Kaufman, Detroit Free Press

48 Hr. Web Winners

1st
“In Beichuan, China, the Agony of Surviving”
Travis Fox washingtonpost.com
2nd
“Trick or Vote”
Everett McEwan KWGN Denver
3rd
“Walter Harris Funeral”
Brian Kaufman Detroit Free Press
HM
“Praying for Benazir”
Travis Fox washingtonpost.com

Judges’ Comments

Terry Bulger

The big question for me here is do you judge video from newer less experienced newspaper journalists the same as you would judge video from more experienced television photojournalists. Since the newspaper side of telling stories is still in an infancy period, I’m more inclined to overlook and not emphasize as much the technical and stylistic aspect of the craft.

“Agony of Surviving”-This is a perfect example of a web story relating immediacy and emotion. Story length and still pictures would interfere with television and newspaper’s ability to capture the reality and emotion of this disaster. But it’s not just the video that helps achieve this, the line,” No reminders that anything exsisted”, here works hand in hand with the video. A Television photo-journalist might question some of the technical aspects of the photography, but the substance of the images and sound far outweighs any concerns over style.

There was also talk in the room about the use of still photos in the story of the Memorial Service for the firefighter. When I watched the story, I noticed and noted the use of photos and thought it was a nice touch that added to the tribute. I’ve often relied on still photos in obit stories for television. I just think they capture a certain essence about a person and their life that video can not do.

I think ultimately photos in the web setting should be used anytime and everytime they help tell the story in a clearer and better way.

Scott Jensen

For the recent few years, every time newspaper photographers and television photographers compete head-to-head in contests, the judges help define the future of visual journalism perhaps to a much greater degree than panelists who judge the groups separately. We are mindful of this concept.

Because of our television background we asked ourselves the question, “How is online video journalism different from television journalism?” The answer I took away from the discussion is it’s acceptable if all the information of a story isn’t conveyed in a video element because, online, the video is only one element. Viewers are free to seek out more information to fill in the gaps.

This departs from our television model. We’ve been taught to condense a large quantity of information for our limited distribution. Online distribution is only limited by a viewer’s attention span, which will likely prove to be a greater challenge for visual journalists.

At our current point in time traditional video photographers and traditional still photographers are miles apart when it comes to stylized visual storytelling. One day as convergence nears completion style won’t matter. Superior visual journalism will be just that. In a way it already is—but it just depends on whom you ask.

As a judge in this contest, I feel it’s vital we recognize what has been traditionally considered superior television technique. Generally speaking, television photographers honed the techniques of video storytelling decades ago. They continue to emphasize that portion of journalism in their product.

Still speaking in general terms, traditional still photographers are more known for highlighting content. There are fewer technical aspects in their medium. And their news organizations have traditionally been more willing to engage in the in-depth coverage a story deserves.

These generalities come to light in the category we just judged. I believe each are of value. This is the reason these stories placed the way they did.

Jon Knorr

The discussion for 48 hour web story went on for a long time, more on how to judge the category than what was best. Do we reward more content driven stories or more television based stories. Since this was primarily a newspaper oriented category we probably went more content. But it was still tough whether to award stories that were still photo based. I feel that while still photos may have a place in some stories, this is now, and will be in the future a video based medium. Still photographers are going to need to learn how to tell a story using sound and video not still shots. While a still image can be powerful, the audio and moving picture can grab you and pull you in much more. These stories did stories did just that. “The Agony of Surviving” was an emotional story from China after the earthquake. You could see the destruction and the agony of what few survivors were left.

“Trick or Vote” was a fast almost frenetically paced story about Election Day. This seemed to be the opposite of most stories in the category. Since it was television based we spent a lot of time discussing weather we award a story that was so different than the rest. But we feel that in the future this may be what the Internet will evolve to be, and we encourage the still photographers making the jump to video to at least understand what wide, medium and close-up shots are for.

“Walter Harris Funeral” was very good. The still shots bothered some of us, since they obviously had video of it. I personally feel that stills should only be used at a time when you don’t have video. It still was an extremely well put together story.

Shane McEachern

48 HOUR WEB - this was an amazing category with a refreshing new style to behold. I like where we are going with this direction, and alot of the entries were quite enjoyable to watch. There is change on the journalism horizon and this is where it begins.... watch it, learn it, get ready for it, because this is the direction of the future.... and honestly I can’t wait to see what it looks like 10 years from now. These stories were simple, emotional, moving, and engrossing.... and from a journalist’s perspective it is something we should strive to accomplish everyday.

We decided to go with emotion and story again over technical aspects, rewarding 1st place to “THE AGONY OF SURVIVING”, which was by far the most compelling of all the stories in this category. Not only did we feel like we were there with the photographer, but it showed the scope of the damage, the raw pain of the people looking through the rubble, and the overall “slice of life” feel to the whole catastrophe. It was painful to watch but it was well done, nice shot composition, nice shots of faces and the natural sounds really made us feel the despair of these people. There was a part where the woman screams off camera over her missing daughter that makes my hair stand up.... and I thought to myself, “this is the sound of a woman who has lost everything”.... very, very moving material.

Second place goes to “TRICK OR VOTE” which was a nice overall feature on the voting problems people were having at one particular polling station. Nicely composed, nice soundbites, quick fast-paced edits, a good overall feel to this piece. Well done.

Third place goes to “PRAYING FOR BENAZIR”, another fine piece with great sound, beautiful shots, and good pacing which helped carry this story through to third place. I liked the quiet nature of this package, it added to the drama.

HM goes to “WALTER HARRIS FUNERAL” a moving, well-photographed document of a funeral for a fallen firefighter in Detroit. This had all the right soundbites, all the right shots (both still and moving) and a very moving ending all brought to life with the sounds of the bagpipes mixed with beautiful still photographs of the casket being loaded onto the top of the firetruck. Great job.

Tom Sharkey

There was much discussion about how to judge the web entries and where the future with these lie. Although I would have liked to have seen more crafting done with our #1 choice there is no doubt about it’s emotional impact. In fact after I viewed all 95 entries this was the story I remembered the most. There were a lot of wide and shaky shots but the emotions that were captured made the crafting issues less important.

“Trick or Vote” was a well crafted story with some nice moments and the “Walter Harris Funeral” was both well crafted and emotional. The one thing I didn’t like was incorporating the stills at the end with the coffin coming out of the church and bag pipers playing underneath. It was obvious the photographer had video of this event because he used one shot of video in this sequence. I just thought using video here would have made it stronger.

There was another story that made the finalist list but didn’t place was “DNC Protest Turns Violent”. I thought the photographer put us in the middle of the story as it was happening and did a good job of telling that story through just pictures and natural sound. In the future I think this is just the kind of story that people are going to download and watch on portable devices as they are headed to work or school.

NPPA Marketplace:

$10,000 PRIZE
Scripps Howard Foundation National Journalism Award for work in 2006 by newspaper and wire service photographers. Deadline Jan. 31, 2007. Entry form online.
BGAN
The new mobile satellite service with simultaneous high-speed data (up to 492kbps) and voice connectivity that goes wherever you go, throughout the world.
NPPA Photo Club
Your digital workflow demands the best gear. And your NPPA membership entitles you to the best prices on all the great stuff in our web store.
Join the NPPA
NPPA members receive a wide range of benefits, from educational opportunities to mentoring, discounts on equipment, insurance, business tips, and much more.

Copyright 2002-2010 NPPA.org
For more information, email the Contest Coordinator.