ST. PETERSBURG, FL (March 21, 2005) – By the end of the second day of judging the NPPA’s Best Of Photojournalism 2005 Still Photography contest, more than 11,000 images have been looked at in 14 categories. The judges working at The Poynter Institute for Media Studies, host site for the Best Of Photojournalism contest, now have four days to view the remaining 28,000 images in the 28 categories.
As of tonight, winners have been announced in the categories of Pictorial, Portrait and Personality, The Arts, Nature and Environment, Computer Image Illustration, and Conceptual Illustration, which were judged on Sunday. The judging today covered the categories of Domestic News, International News, Campaign 2004, Individual Sports Action, Team Sports Action, Sports Feature, and Magazine Feature. Winners in these categories will be announced shortly.
In the Pictorial category, first place went to James Nachtwey, VII for Fortune magazine, for an image of rice terraces built along the steep contours of a mountainside outside the village of Tian Tou, near Longsheng, China, that date back more than 700 years. Second place went to Benjamin Krain fo the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, and third place to Jay Clendenin of Polaris Images. Honorable Mentions were awarded to Vincent Laforet of The New York Times; Chang Lee of The New York Times; and Armando Solares of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.
In the Portrait and Personality category, first place went to freelancer Ross Taylor for an image of a Kashmiri woman standing outside of an immunization clinic in Srinigar. Second place went to Francisco Sanchez of EFE News Services, and third place to Tomothy Sofranko of Colgate University. Honorable Mentions were awarded to Finbarr O’Reilly of Reuters; Marvin Joseph of The Washington Post; Sylwia Kapuscinski of the Detroit Free Press; and Luis Sinco of the Los Angeles Times.
In the category The Arts, first place went to Aaron Huey of Polaris Images for a picture of young girls preparing to perform a traditional Svanish dance in Svanetia, the Georgian Republic. Second place went to Lori Duff of The Concord Monitor, and third place to Al Crespo of World Picture News. Honorable Mentions were awarded to Alan Berner of The Seattle Times; Anderson Schneider of Verve Pictures; and L.E. Baskow of The Portland Tribune.
In the Nature and Environment catetory, first place went to freelancer Jim Reed for a picture of a lone cloud-to-ground lighting bolt striking beneath a supercell thunderstorm in Kansas. Second place went to freelancer Dylan Slagle, and third place to Christine prichard of the Birmingham Post-Herald. Honorable Mentions were awarded to Spencer Ainsley of the Poughkeepsie Journal; Paul Beaty of The Daily Herald; and Ed Hille of The Philadelphia Inquirer.
In the Computer Image Illustration category, first place went to Carol Cleere of The Tampa Tribune for an image created to illustrate a story on suicide and the difficulties a family faces after loosing a loved one. Second place went to Michael Elins for an image created for Time magazine on American family obesity, and third place to James Porto for Time magazine. Honorable Mentions were awarded to James Weber of The Commercial Appeal; Robert Hendricks of the Casper Star-Tribune; and Andrew Jerabek of VII on assignment for Time magazine.
In the Conceptual Illustration category, first place went to Gregory Shaver of The Journal Times for an image called “Squeeze on School Funding.” Second place went to Eric Parsons of The Tennessean, and third place to Eric Schmadel of the Tribune-Review. Honorable Mentions were awarded to Scott Anderson of The Journal Times, and Jeff Hinckley of The Columbus Dispatch.
In the first two days of Web site judging, Best Of Photojournalism contest committee member Keith Jenkins, who oversees the interactive and online portion of the contest, says that it’s going “smoother and better than expected. Judges Maria Bunai, Shawn Greene, Dan Habib, and Andrew DeVigal have been clicking links since Sunday afternoon and will continue throughout the rest of the week. All told, there are about 130 Web entries spread across eight categories.
"Overall impressions are that this year's work is much more consistent across all levels of sites than in previous years, especially in the Independent category. There have even been some interesting 'photoblogs' entered this year. There have been some surprise winners, which will be announced at week's end, and with two more days of judging left, there will surely be more."
Stay tuned through the week as daily stories are posted on the NPPA Web site with results from the Photography and Web Site judging.
Read Sunday's story from the first full day of judging, and learn more about the panel of judges.
