ST. PETERSBURG, FL (March 17, 2005) – The judges woke to more rain Thursday morning. They are starting to wonder why Florida is called, “The Sunshine State.” When everyone met in the hotel lobby for breakfast, editing judge Brandi Paulson asked, “Why am I the only one wearing green?” The judges seemed so wrapped up in the contest they forgot that it was St. Patrick’s Day. “Oh, yeah,” quipped Richard Essex.
The Photography category judges needed to watch 15 more Photographer of the Year entries. Once finished, they narrowed it down to a handful. “Seven entrants really stood out. The quality of work is awe-inspiring and we are all excited about picking the winner,” Kurt Austin said.
Now for the hard part: they had to start eliminating. “There are so many positives, I am looking for negatives now,” judge Scott Hedeen said. Kenny Reynolds had a difficult time. “It’s hard to pick just one, because there are several photojournalists that did such a complete job with ALL the categories… they’re proficient,” he said.
“Which photographer would you want to be?” Hedeen asked the group. “This is a very important decision and we need to sit and think about it.”
More whittling…
“I’ll take number 6 out of the mix,” Austin said.
That left three.
“You guys want to go around and vote for first and second?” contest chair Merry
Murray asked.
The group decided to watch their top two choices again.
Then Katrina Brown was even more conflicted. “Numbers 16 and 10 are about even now for me,” she said.
Kurt Austin tried to make a point and he wanted the floor. “The man from Portland without socks has something to say,” joked Richard Essex.
Austin finally got his word in. “It was a tie for me until the In-depth story,” he said. “I like Number 10 the best, and Number 16 runner up.”
“You can see they work well by themselves as well as with reporters,” Reynolds said.
“I was trying to pick them apart and find faults.”
At 2:30 p.m., the new Photographer of the Year was finally been picked.
“Consistency was the key in this tape,” Essex said. “That was why this one hand the edge over the other one.”
“Every story was incredible… the last In-depth story on the runner-up tape hurt it,” Austin said.
Hedeen equated the Photographer of the Year’s tape to an orchestral performance. “It was woven together like a fine piece of music. It had a beginning, middle and a big crescendo at the end,” he said.
The personalization of stories is what helped, Katrina Brown decide. “(The winner) had more ‘people’ stories,” she said.
Meanwhile, down the hall, the Editing judges worked feverishly to plow through their tapes.
They judged Editor’s Effects, Sports, Editor’s Feature (photographers and editors separate), and News Feature (photographers).
The two judges saw a few themes emerge during the viewing. Many of the editors didn’t put closing shots in their stories. “Where’s the ending?” Paul Pytlowany asked more than once.
The judges had plenty more to say:
“What’s the obsession with slo-mo?”
“It left me wanting more!”
“I don’t get it… ”
Back in the Photography judging room, the panel started to look at tapes for Station of the Year (large market).
By 10:45 p.m., the judges had watched all large market S.O.Y. tapes. “Which ones do you like?” Murray asked the panel. Five finalists emerged. They were knocked down to four, and then to three.
Hedeen, uncomfortable because his station emerged as a S.O.Y. finalist, excused himself from the judging. “Honestly, I am going to walk outside.”
Contest chair Murray monitored objectivity and very carefully throughout the week. “We had three people who had a personal connection to the entries and they stepped out when it came time for their stories to be judged so they wouldn’t have any influence on the other judges,” she said. “They were very good about being cautious.”
NPPA president Bob Gould agreed. “Scott was very concerned about the entry and the panel acted very professionally. I saw to it that there was no bias whatsoever,” Gould said. “Hedeen told us that he hadn’t even seen the entry until now. In fact, he didn’t even know it was his station until after the first story.”
Now the judges wanted to watch the airchecks of the top three S.O.Y. finalists.
After midnight, they had their winner.
“The station won because the tape was strong from Spot News, Deadline, General, all the way to In-depth… very, very strong stories. Very consistent,” Kurt Austin said.
“Top to bottom… it was the most complete,” Kenny Reynolds said. “It was almost unanimous across the board, right out of the box,” Reynolds said referring to the initial pick of the finalists.
Katrina Brown said picking the runner up was a tough choice between two different stations. “(Ultimately it was) the aircheck and the philosophy statement that edged helped seal the runner-up,” she said. “They proved their philosophy in their stories.”
The judges decided to keep going despite the fact that St. Patrick’s day was over. Seven stations entered the S.O.Y. Small market category. Some two-and-a-half hours later, at 2:30 a.m. Friday, the debate on this category began. Three of the seven entries stood out.
With some discussion, the judges came to a consensus. “The winner showed across the board, more chances taken. The tape from beginning to end was consistently creative and well shot, even though it had some missed opportunities and chances for surprises, it showed promise with consistent talent,” Hedeen said.
The Medium market S.O.Y. will be judged on Friday to end the contest judging. The judges headed back to the hotel now, weary and tired but satisfied.
“I hope I wake up on time,” Katrina Brown said. - Bob Gould
Stay tuned this week as Bob Gould files daily stories from the judging, and winners are announced on Friday during a Webcast hosted on www.poynter.org.
The Best Of Photojournalism 2005 Television contest page is updated daily during the judging.
Sunday's story: The television judging got started with Spot News categories as judges gathered at The Poynter Institute for Media Studies.
Monday's story: Judges picked winners from General News and Sports categories.
Tuesday's story: Judges picked winners from the Features and Documentary categories.
Wednesday's story: Judges picked a winner in Television Editor of the Year and watched tapes for Television Photographer of the Year.
Television judges: Read their biographies and see a slide show of the judging.
Last week: The Best Use Of Pictures and Editing categories were judged at Ohio University in Athens, OH. Read about that judging here, along with information about the Best Of Photojournalism Still Photography and Web site judges for 2005.
