Best of Still Photojournalism 2004

1st: The New York Times on the Web: Iraq Journal: Heart of the Fight; A photographic journal by James Hill, photographer for The New York Times, of the US advance on Baghdad. (please disable popup blockers)
2nd: washingtonpost.com: Najaf's City of the Dead; With the end of fighting, Iraqi Shiite families bring dead family members to the holy city of Najaf for burial. The vast cemetery, in the shadow of the Holy Shrine of the Prophet Ali, is a favored final resting place for Shiites.
3rd: America Online: Fighting in Liberia; Account: NPPAjudges/M password: nppa2004
Paste "aol://4344:3167.libergal.21085752.743201306" URL into AOL browser to view the gallery.; Combatants and those affected by the war in Liberia.

Anne Conneen

NYT Iraq Journal: The quality of the images reaches a peak and stays there. They have a rich textural quality. The easy to navigate "chapters" are well focused and lack redundancy, keeping the user/viewer's attention as well as always providing a good sense of when and where things were occurring.; The judges agreed that the one flaw with this presentation was the audio. The narration felt disconnected from the photos. And at times was unrelated to the content of the photos. If the audio were cued to the photos it would have made a more cohesive story.
Wash Post: Najaf's City of the Dead: The marriage of audio and image make this story more than just a slide show. The content of the audio and images is consistent and tightly edited.
AOL: Fighting in Liberia: The opening image captures the emotion and the tension of this story. The photographer put in an amazing effort in the heat of battle to get these images. The strength of this piece comes from the photographer's gripping work.; Issues arise in the editing of the content. There needs to be some context - time, place, and what is happening in the region - for this to stand alone as a meaningful story that readers can relate to.

News Picture Story Winners - Over