ST. PETERSBURG, FL (March 16, 2005) – The panel of judges for the Best Of Photojournalism Television and Editing categories, now settled into a familiar routine, awoke to find another cloudy day in St. Petersburg. Nobody really cared about the rainy weather, though, since they’re held captive inside watching video tape all day.
The editing judges have already picked the Television Editor of the Year. Judge Paul Pytlowany, of UPN/CBS in Detroit, MI, said it wasn’t difficult picking the top editor. “Clearly the winner set themselves apart from the others in the group. Hands down, quite evident.”
The other editing judge, Brandi Paulson of WKYC-TV in Cleveland, OH, agreed. “You could really see their personality on the tape and it was quite different from every other tape we watched.”
“The winner was a complete package, winning in every category,” Pytlowany said.
“We’ve got two more under deadline, spot!” Editing categories contest chair Mike Harrity announced.
One issue that came up for the Editing judges was the use of effects. “We felt that some people may have been testing out a new effects box,” Pytlowany said. “We felt that these effects were not motivated,” he added.
“The effects didn’t have anything to do with the story. They didn’t enhance the story,” Paulson said.
The Photography judges, hoping to get through Photographer of the Year and the In depth/Series categories today, started the day with the In-depth category. It took nearly half the day with only a quick lunch break to get through this category.
The judge’s once again had plenty to say during the discussion of this category.
“There were some great silhouettes there.”
“I like the compression shot.”
“The reporter killed it”
“I will change my vote… for #1”
“We had the great telephoto there.”
Then the judges narrowed it down and Photography contest chair Merry Murray polled the panel. “(Is it the consensus that) everyone want this one for second place?”
Judge Katrina (Brown) McCann attempted to persuade her colleagues. “I would just like to throw out some sort of opinion on that story. It was the most newsworthy story. It got great interaction between the father and the son.”
Scott Hedeen chimed in. “It would be a topic at home where people’s ears would perk up.”
McCann countered back “This is the second time I watched it and I didn’t like it as much as the first time,” she said.
Once they picked the winners, NPPA president Bob Gould convinced the panel to get some fresh air and to take some more photographs, this time across the street by the Bay. “Come on, let’s go,” he insisted.
By 4 p.m., we looked outside and the skies had opened up for a good old-fashioned Florida downpour.
In the late afternoon it was now gut check time for the judges. The Photographer of the Year category had 23 entries. This time all the judges stayed in one room instead of splitting up into teams. Gould explained to the panel how important this category was and how these entries should be scrutinized very carefully. “This is what defines a career,” Gould said.
Meanwhile, down the hall, the editors ere plowing through their categories.
“What was that?”
“I’m just cringing on that audio!”
“I put ‘not bad’… but with a star.”
“I need a Tylenol after that one.”
“It’s like comparing top shelf versus second or third tier.”
By 6:30 p.m., the dinner bell beckoned and the judges called it quits for the night, hoping to have some evening social time to get away from the viewing for a while. - 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.
