ST. PETERSBURG, FL (March 18, 2006) – Judging is set to begin Sunday afternoon in the still photography and Web categories of the 2006 National Press Photographers Association’s Best of Photojournalism contest at The Poynter Institute for Media Studies in St. Petersburg, FL.
This year’s contest is the largest Best Of Photojournalism competition to date: Photographers entered more than 55,000 still images. Keith Jenkins, Best Of Photojournalism coordinator for the contest's Web division and deputy assistant managing editor for photography at The Washington Post, reports the number of Web entries in this year's contest has more than doubled since 2005.
The still photography judges will begin a long week of picking winners by judging five categories on the contest’s first day: Celebrity News Singles, Conceptual Photographic Illustration, Individual Sports Action, Team Sports Action, and Sports Enterprise. Near the end of the week the judges will pick the Photojournalists of the Year for the large market and small market categories, as well as the winner of Cliff Edom’s “New America Award.”
"This year the 55,000 still photographs entered in the Best Of Photojournalism contest is a 45% growth in the size of the contest over last year," NPPA Best Of Photojournalism contest coordinator Thomas Kenniff said. Entries in the Best Of Photojournalism contest have increased from 23,000 still photographs taken in 2001 and judged in 2002, to more than 38,999 still photographs taken in 2004 and judged in 2005, to this year's more than 55,000 photographs taken in 2005 and judged this Spring.
This year's still photography judges are: Ramiro Fernandez, photography editor for People magazine; Christine McNeal, deputy managing editor for design, graphics, and photography for The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; Ricardo Ferro, director of photography for Efeamerica; Ruth Fremson, a staff photojournalist for The New York Times; and James Colton, photography editor for Sports Illustrated magazine.
This year's Web division judges are: Margarita Corporan, a senior photography editor for America Online; Andrew DeVigal, an assistant professor at San Francisco State University and co-principal of Devigal Design; 2005 Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Deanna Fitzmaurice, a staff photojournalist for the San Francisco Chronicle; and Juan Thomassie, a senior designer for USAToday.com.
NPPA executive director Greg Garneau will be on hand at the judging to report results and assist with the proceedings, along with contest coordinator Kenniff and Jared Haworth, NPPA's Web site administrator.
Last year Jim Gehrz of the Minneapolis Star Tribune was the NPPA Best Of Photojournalism Newspaper Photographer of the Year, and freelancer Jon Lowenstein was the winner of the Edom honor for his essay, “Pocket Town Kids: Passion, Hope, and Connection on Chicago’s Southside.” Barry Chin, a staff photojournalist for The Boston Globe, won the Sports Portfolio of the Year award.
Judging in the Best Of Photojournalism’s editing categories begins April 3 at the Ohio University School of Visual Communication in Athens, OH, coordinated by VisCom's director, Terry Eiler. Judges for the editing categories, where there are 1,600 magazine entries from the States and abroad, are: Nancy Andrews, director of photography for the Detroit Free Press; Bert Fox, a photography editor for National Geographic; Boyzell Hosey, director of photography for the St. Petersburg Times; and Peter Howe, a photography editor and author who is the former director of photography for Life and the former picture editor of The New York Times Sunday Magazine.
NPPA's Best Of Photojournalism contest is sponsored by Canon, Avid, The Poynter Institute for Media Studies, Hesketh.com, Ibiblio.org, Western Kentucky University, Camera Bits, Ohio University, and Merlin One.
