While there were 10 terrific spot news stories, the panel was in agreement for the winning entry. For “They Thought They Had It”, the photojournalist showed tremendous poise and patience gathering compelling sound and pictures of a small town’s church burning, while the fire was still raging. Extra points were given to the photojournalist for not missing dramatic visual moments from the fire- and gathering outstanding interviews to propel the story. It was apparent that the reactions to the event were genuine and in the heat of the moment while the fire was still beyond the fire fighters’ control, and not gathered after the fact when “it was safe.” The panel was very impressed with the ability to gather moments while not missing the action.
There were a few other outstanding stories to select from- most notably a terrific natural sound piece about a woman who went to her parking space to find a note telling her that a snake had crawled into (and was still inside) her car- and a compelling story about a nighttime school bus crash on an icy roadway. In the end, the urgency of the moment, and the gutsy storytelling of “They Thought They Had It” won our top praise.
