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 Web Finalists

(In Alphabetical Order)

“An American Parkour Pioneer”
Ben de la Cruz & Kat Keene Hogue, washingtonpost.com
“Athletics and Academic Success in Balance”
Garret Hubbard, USA Today
“A Good Throw”
John Poole, NPR
“Golden Gloves”
Troy Hale, Press Pass TV
“Red Wings win Stanley Cup”
Brian Kaufman, Detroit Free Press
“Tony Hawk: Gliding into the Future”
Garret Hubbard, USA Today

Sports Feature Web Winners

1st
“Tony Hawk: Gliding into the Future”
Garret Hubbard, USA Today
2nd
“Athletics and Academic Success in Balance”
Garret Hubbard, USA Today
3rd
“An American Parkour Pioneer”
Ben de la Cruz & Kat Keene Hogue, washingtonpost.com

Judges’ Comments

Scott Jensen

To me, the most interesting part of this discussion was whether we should consider a story that has technical issues loading into a web browser.

The perspective that if a video journalist is rewarded AT LEAST IN PART because their news organization chooses to send them to a dramatic news event where great stories are arguably more plentiful, then perhaps a video journalist should be punished AT LEAST IN PART because their news organization chooses to invest in an unreliable online distribution system.

My point is if you work for a good company, you have a better chance to practice good journalism. On the other hand if you’re the “small guy,” fewer expectations are placed upon you. When you succeed, you succeed bigger. And often that is rewarded.

So. We had major issues with one of the stories loading. It would stop every few seconds for a few seconds and play intermittently. That’s what began our discussion.

If we were real online news consumers, would we stick around and wait for it?

In the end, we determined we weren’t ready to make decisions based on a news organization’s delivery process. But I think it’s something other judges might consider, like all those people clicking on your company’s website.

Jon Knorr

How much is the photographer to blame if the media won’t play. We had a lot of problems playing the Sports stories. There were less newspaper stories in this category, and the websites had a lot of trouble playing the content. We finally did get to see all the stories but the waiting was slow. We wondered how many people would stick around and watch some of them. We decided not to penalize the offenders and we agreed to award 1st  place to “Tony Hawk”. The subject matter held our attention more than some of the others, though I would have liked to see more of Tony skating. Our second place winner put a lot of effort in by following a University of Illinois football player through an entire school day. The access he had at football practice was amazing. “An American Parkour Pioneer” had amazing shots of people jumping and hurdling objects that I could have never figure out how to get over

Shane McEachern

This was a tougher category to judge, with a strong stream of entries but nothing standing out as much.  The top three were good strong pieces, but it dropped off after that for technical reasons and some stories which weren’t strong enough to make it in the ring.

1st place goes to “TONY HAWK”.  This was a nice feature on Mr Hawk, the skateboarding pro and what skating has meant to him at various times in his life.  Nicely shot, good editing, not too flashy on this one (could have been a little edgier).... it simply got the job done with no worries.

2nd place went to “ATHLETIC AND ACADEMIC SUCCESS”.... a nice feature on a football program.  Excellent dedication on a story, following a team day and night to get the job done....  Nicely shot, crisp editing, good access, good reaction, all over the place with the camera.... way to go!!!

3rd place is “AN AMERICAN PARKOUR PIONEER”.  Nice feature on the sport of parkour, with a innovative teacher taking us through the process of learning and becoming an expert of parkour.  Nice interviews, good examples of the mindblowing physical feats these people accomplish.  Editing was a little sparse, could have been quicker and faster paced in spots considering the subject matter, but it was a nice piece regardless.

Great job everybody!  Nice to see your stuff.

Tom Sharkey

There was no story in this category that really stood out.  In fact several of the finalists looked like they were done by first year photojournalists. Our first place selection was good during the action sequences, unfortunately there too few of them and too much talking head.  The second place story, I thought, was superior simply because the photographer made an investment in time and effort, following a college football player from the time he wakes up in the morning to when he completes practice in the evening.  With multi-locations and a lot of backpedaling he made it work.  The third place story wasn’t bad I thought, it was a tad bit long and it was a series of medium shots but it told a story I am sure young people will like to watch.

I want to take this opportunity to point out that a lot of stories that were submitted were no longer on the website the entrant provided.  All the stories that came from FOX stations for instance were no longer available.  Next year if you are going to submit a web story make sure it is protected and backed-up on your employers server.

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