Best of Television Photojournalism 2004
TV News Photography: General News
- 1st
- Potato Prison
- Marc Rice, WESH
- 2nd
- No Award Given
- 3rd
- No Award Given
- HM
- One more dead Building
- Gary Knox, KARE
We judged these stories first thing Sunday morning. After watching all the entries, we spent several hours discussing the stories we liked as well as a few of the ones we did not.
It was easy for us to pick a winner here: Potato Prison. The story about one state's problem of dealing with surplus potatoes was well done and fit the category perfectly. It dealt with the issue of what to do with the potatoes, appeared to have been shot and edited in 24 hours, had some good natural moments and memorable sound bites from the prisoners who had to haul, clean, cook and eat the potatoes every day, from morning 'til night. The shooting and sound gathering techniques were solid as well.
Our greatest debate came not in choosing a winner, but in deciding which stories to exclude from consideration. Two stories entered in this category really caught our attention. They were artfully shot, exceptionally edited and wonderfully produced.
One emotional moment even made some of us cry. The problem for some of the judges came in classifying these entries as general news. To some of us, they just didn't fit the category. The majority finally agreed to exclude these two stories because they didn't deal with a specific issue. No one would debate the choices made in these stories. No conflict presented itself. No opposing viewpoints were shared. We felt a general news story should have at least one of these qualities.
Had these stories been entered into the feature category, they would have done very well.
The judges found only one other story worthy of an award. The Honorable Mention Award goes to: "One More Dead Building". A story about a business damaged by a tornado, and a family's decision to tear it down.
The judges all agreed this category needs to stay true to the basics of what all photojournalists should do every day. Hard news stories can be told with creativity and good technique. We would have liked the same energy that we later saw in the feature categories applied to this category. A feature story entered here was not going to win an award.
Bill MasureJudges' Comments
Gabriella Bruni
Many entries did not belong in this category and would have been better placed in feature.
"Learning to listen" struck me the most for its beautifully captured emotion and technique, it would have been my top pick if it weren't for the fact the story affects a limited amount of people, i.e. the deaf child's family ONLY or others with a similar condition. The rules state the category is "issue oriented" and in my opinion, the story does not have wide-reaching impact for the entire viewing audience.
"Potato Prison" was tops in my book in that it was a creative spin on a normally dull subject, wasted taxpayer dollars.
Andre Jones
This was a very disappointing category, because most of the entries were features. General News deals with issues that have opposition to create debate. We were looking for more of a hard edge in this category. There was a human-interest story that had it all except it was in the wrong category. The bar was set with "Potato Prison," which was an issue-oriented story. I felt that none of the General News stories had emotion. There were moments that occurred, but not captured. Anticipate, anticipate and anticipate. I saw a lot of pretty pictures, but the content was lacking. Great people make people around them great. If your reporter is a good writer, take them to the next level.
Rob Macey
"Potato Prison" took a wasted taxpayer dollar issue and made it golden. The Photographer anticipated moments, personalized prisoners and developed sequences with interest and commitment to the story.
Robert Nino
Our bread and butter so it would seem. The strength of the first place stood out for strong consistent images, greater content relevance and effort. The most impressive characteristic of the story for me is the photojournalists' ability to engage the subject. The informational sound gathered during conversations with subjects made what could have been an average story to a 1st place.