ST. PETERSBURG, FL (March 15, 2005) – After a late night on Monday, the group of the Best Of Photojournalism Television contest judges, a little droopy-eyed, needed a little “pick-me-up.” A morning bagel and a Starbucks stop seemed to do the trick, giving them the boost needed to take on the day.
The judges eyed the 74 Feature entries stacked on the table ready to be viewed. This is the largest category in the contest.
After the initial run-through, the panel picked 11 Feature stories that they wanted to watch again. When they finished the second round of viewing, a debate sparked almost immediately.
The discussion centered on whether or not the photojournalist staged the story’s opening sequence. In a nearly unanimous chorus, the judges made a request. “Can we watch that again?”
Judge Scott Hedeen foreshadowed “I think we’re getting ready for the ‘S’ word, he said. Judge Katrina Brown chimed in “You bring the ‘S’ word up and I think I am going to vomit, she shouted.
“We’re getting away from our NPPA standards,” Kurt Austin said. “It was totally set up.”
After watching the section two more times, the judges all concluded it was set-up. The biggest concern was if it was illustrative enough to allow it to stay in the mix.
Contest chair Merry Murray, NPPA president Bob Gould, and Poynter Institute faculty member Al Tompkins helped lead a discussion with the judges about the importance of the NPPA Code of Ethics. They wanted help with the decision and they looked to the president for answers.
“You (Gould) are the epitome of ethics,” Hedeen said half sarcastically. Gould told the panel, “You are setting the standards for the NPPA and the contest. You have to be sure you make the right ethical decisions no matter what category this is in.”
The deed was done. They threw the story out of the contest.
“It’s a shame that we had to have this discussion (on this story), because it was a great piece, but we’re five people who represent an entire organization and we have a standard we need to uphold. And it was the right decision to be made,” Brown said.
The next big concern dealt with the use of file tape. The contest rules say, “90% of the story must have been shot by the entering photojournalist.” The judges really enjoyed one particular story that included file video. Merry Murray looked at the story and added up the use of file tape. The photojournalist went over the allotment by 23 seconds. Kurt Austin argued that there’s no provision for historical video like there is in the quarterly clip contest. “That contest allows for 25% to be historical or file video,” Austin said.
Others wanted to rationalize ways to keep it in the mix. “I don’t want to break the law, but if I can break the law, I will,” said Hedeen, referring to his desire to keep the story in.
Ultimately, and reluctantly, the judges disqualified it.
At 3:30 p.m., in need of an energy boost, the judges got a welcome treat. “Merry’s just put out the happy pills,” Brown said excitedly about the bowls of M&Ms just placed on the judges’ table.
“I have no ranking right now, I need to be convinced,” Hedeen said.
The discussion on the Feature entries continued and one of the judges excused himself while they talked about a story that shot at his station.
The panel narrowed it down to five Feature stories and each had their own opinion. By 4:30 p.m. they were close to a decision, but not before the return of brutal honesty a la Simon Cowell of “American Idol.”
“That white balancing was dead-on”
“It wasn’t a very entertaining story.”
“(The images are great), but there’s no story.”
“That little girl is just so dang cute”…“Yeah, but the yelling ruined it for me.”
“There’s editing and there’s storytelling there… there’s a hybrid.”
“The sound of the zoom lens motor does not count as ‘nat up.’”
“High production value.”
“I thought they took a boring story and did something with it.”
“Great story, thought it was entertaining… liked the way they lit the interviews.”
“My two issues are the door closing and the ending shot, where the lights went out.”
By 4:45 p.m. they had the winners’ list, and the group decided to plug on and work through the evening.
No one complained about dinner despite the fact that it was leftover pizza heated in a microwave oven. The judges were on a roll and ready to move on, eagerly waiting for the 46 new stories waiting to be watched from the “48 Hour” Feature category.
After a couple of stories, Katrina Brown seemed concerned.
“Is it my eyes or is some of this out of focus?” she asked.
Richard Essex quipped back, “The blood coming out of your eyes doesn’t help!”
Nine tapes made it to the next level, and one judge excused himself from the discussion because he had a personal connection to one of the stories.
But the discussion didn’t last long and the “48 Hour” Feature category was put to bed at 8:30 p.m.
The palm trees illuminated in the courtyard outside the judging room reminds everyone that they are still in tropical Florida, even thought night has fallen. The judges finished up the evening by watching the Documentary entries. There were 12 stories to watch, one that was 45 minutes long.
While fatigue is starting to set in for these judges after three days of viewing tapes, Mike Harrity, the Editing contest chair, arrived today along with his Editing panel, Paul Pytlowany and Brandi Paulson. They’re ready to name the best television editors in the country.
“Since we are allowing photographers to enter the Editing contest year, we have doubled the number of entries,” Harrity said. Because of the extra entries they wanted to get a jump-start, so late Tuesday night they were hitting it hard looking for the Editor of the Year.
Paulson, arriving from Cleveland, OH, is glad to be here in Florida. “It’s a great opportunity, wonderful to be immersed in this process,” she commented. “Getting to see all of the work… I love judging anyway. I hope that I walk away with a better understanding of the whole process.”
“It’s an honor to be here with the NPPA and I look forward to seeing some great work, and really getting into it for the next couple of days,” Pytlowany said.
Three days down, two more to go. Television photojournalists and editors across the country are eagerly await the results, hoping to hear their names announced on Friday when the winners are announced during a live Web cast hosted on the Poynter Institute’s Web site. - 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.
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.
