ST. PETERSBURG, FL (March 9, 2007) – Building up to the last day of judging in the NPPA's Best Of Photojournalism 2007 competition, TV judges today picked winners in the categories of General News Simple EFX (Editors), General News Simple EFX (Photographers), Magazine Editing, In-Depth/Series, Sports Feature, Documentary, News Feature, Judges' Choice, and the NPPA Photojournalism Award for Reporting.
The Best Of Photojournalism 2007 competition is sponsored again this year by Canon and Avid.
Some of the winning videos can be viewed here on the Poynter Institute's Web site.
In the General News Simple EFX (Editors) category, first place was awarded to Joshua Shea of KCNC-TV in Denver for “When The Saints Go Marching In,” and second place was Jason Hanson of KSTP-TV in Minneapolis for “Water Skipping.” No other places were awarded.
“Overall, this category was fairly weak. The majority of the stories were edited in a pretty average way. Not to say that they were all bad, by any stretch. Just that they don't represent what should be considered the ‘best’ of television editing,” judge Michael Humphries said. “Some had good potential, but overused natural sound or effects diluted the effectiveness of the stories. By comparison, many of the stories put together in the ‘under 1 hour’ rule of the Deadline Editing category were much better-crafted than these, which had a time limit 23 hours longer.”
In the General News Simple EFX (Photographers) category, first place was Byron Reed of KUSA-TV in Denver for “Where Are You?” Second place went to Corky Scholl of KUSA-TV in Denver for “Balcony Seat,” and third place was Steve Rhodes of WTHR-TV in Indianapolis for “Not Going To Forget.” An honorable mention was given to Todd Rogenthien of KVUE-TV in Austin, TX, for “Slow News Day.” A finalist in this category was “The Cost Of War” by Chris Cheline of KDVR-TV in Denver.
“‘Where Are You?’ really drew you in to the anticipation and it had nice moments,” judge Stephanie Ottjepka said. “Many of the edits cut before the track or bite referenced them. An example would be the edit of the girl looking down before you hear ‘some people on top waiting.’ This kind of pacing and the shot selection set this piece above the rest. ‘Balcony Seat’ also had a nice feel to it. The pacing of the edits served the story. The edits were not fast and jarring and I could really see what was going on. There were some real nice moments.” ‘Not Going To Forget’ told the story well. The dissolves worked, the use of stills were nice, and the natural sound sequencing did not distract from the story. ‘Slow News Day’ had good sequencing that helped convey the story. While I usually don't like playful stand-ups, I thought the editing made them work.”
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In the category of Magazine Editing, first place is Patrick Ahern and Fritz Mott of CNBC National for “Big Brother, Big Business.” Second place is Ron Kabele of Texas Parks & Wildlife for “A Day At Pedernales,” and third place is Joshua Shea of KCNC-TV in Denver for “I Thought Everybody Had A Tiger.”
“The first place winner tells about the increasing lack of privacy in America. The editors used a full palette of techniques to expertly craft the story. Great graphics, interesting color effects and varying video playback speeds all worked to make the story visually interesting and compelling to watch,” Humphries said. “Unlike the effects used on many of the stories in other categories, the ones in this piece all worked to further the story and did not diminish its focus. It is tight, elegantly edited work.
“‘A Day At Pedernales’ is the other extreme in editing, using only cuts to efficiently tell about a group of volunteers at a state park who assist the full-time employees. Through great use of good natural sound and beautiful shot selection, the editor was able to maintain a good pace throughout the piece. Book ending the story with the volunteers relaxing and visiting with each other was a very nice touch.”
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In the In-Depth/Series category, first place was awarded to John Drilling of KARE-TV in Minneapolis for “Portrait Of Compassion.” Second place is Brad Swagger of KMSP-TV in Minneapolis for “A Bright Light,” and third place is Jonathan Malat of KARE-TV in Minneapolis for “Where Duane Amman Knows Their Name.” Honorable mentions were given to Dan Bolsem of KCCI-TV in Des Moines, IA, for “Martha Parkey,” and to John Anglim of WMAR-TV in Baltimore, MD, for “Magic Man.”
The finalists in the In-Depth/Series category were Andy Sugden of KARE-TV in Minneapolis, MN, for “Alive”; Gary Knox of KARE-TV in Minneapolis for “Crosswalk”; Ken Mostek of KUSA-TV in Denver, CO, for “Derrick Lutters”; Troy Hale of KMSP-TV in Minneapolis for “Downtown 33”; Doug Burgess of WFAA-TV in Dallas, TX, for “4 Months 22 Days”; Jeremy Carroll of KNTV-TV in San Francisco, CA, for “Holy Hostel”; and Andy Shilts of KMSP-TV in Minneapolis for “Motown Adams.”
“It’s nice to know that humanity, humility, and compassion still exist. From watching news around the country it’s easy to forget these concepts still abound. The world needs, and deserves stories like we found in the In-Depth category,” judge Joel Eagle said.
“Different stories elicited different emotions, but they were sometimes so powerful that I was wiped out when we were done. The corporate broadcast world should watch the winners as a refresher course to why we’re here … in the broadcast business, and in life.”
Jay Korff said, “The top stories in this category affirm the relevancy and power of television news. The winning entries teemed with emotion, brilliant story-telling and gripping visuals. In fact, there were a number of entries that didn’t make our final list that deeply touched the judging panel. It’s reassuring to know that broadcast outlets continue to support such moving and important work.”
“This is the only category we would have been happy to award more places, because there was so much good work,” judge Regina McCombs said. “Our only regret is that this category isn’t better designed to reward investigative and newsier work.”
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In the Sports Feature category, first place was awarded to John Hendon of WYFF-TV in Greenville, SC for “Keeping Up With Kos.” Second place is Doug Burgess of WFAA-TV in Dallas, TX, for “A More Special Player,” and third place is Scott Jensen of KTUU-TV in Anchorage, AK, for “Dirt Track Charley.” Honorable mentions were given to Corky Scholl of KUSA-TV in Denver for “Dream Park,” and Steve Rhodes of WTHR-TV in Indianapolis, IN, for “Age To Spare.”
Finalists in this category were Thomas McDonald of KDVR-TV in Denver, CO, for “Baseball Begging”; Stan Heist of WBFF-TV in Baltimore, MD, for “Batman Of Easton”; Andy Shilts of KMSP-TV in Minneapolis, MN, for “Jumprope And Pie”; Drew Cook of WAVE-TV in Louisville, KY, for “One Of The Guys”; Dan Bolsem of KCCI-TV in Des Moines, IA, for “Souvenirs!”; and Andy Benton of WCNC-TV in Charlotte, NC, for “Unbreakable Kos.”
“There was a long, heated debate about ‘Dream Park.’ It had the most beautiful pictures and was creatively edited, but didn’t tell a story,” Morache said. “This year we went with story. Watching the other stories, we saw a lot of ‘almosts.’ I’d like to suggest that people limit the number of times they use short, fast editing pops to try to artificially pump up the pace of their stories. If there’s a natural sequence that lends itself to it, great. Otherwise, it’s just so much zip, zap, zop.”
“A large group with a few bright spots,” Eagle said. “I loved the shooting of ‘Dream Park’ … excellent work. The first three places were voted in as a result of their storytelling. I was still leading a ‘Dream Park’ charge; by virtue of the category it could have been higher in the standings.”
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In the Documentary category, first place was awarded to Scott Jensen of KTUU-TV in Anchorage, AK, for “Ironwoman: The DeeDee Jonrowe Story.” There were no second or third place winners. Honorable mentions were given to Michael Del Giudice of Equator HD for “The Day Of The Dead,” and to Dan Sheffer of Tucson 12 in Tucson, AZ, for “Meth: A City Copes.”
“We saw a small number of documentaries this year, and frankly we didn’t see very much photojournalism,” Morache said. “We were impressed by the commitment of the first place winner. … It was a complete piece of work, and they should be proud. After that, we didn’t see anything that stood up to the high standard of the other long-form categories. They were either missing the production value, or the real-time experiential element that we value in great news photography. You can’t replace emotional storytelling with pretty pictures and music.”
“We watched eight docs, and I was glad to see that a few local affiliates are still willing to do long-format work,” Eagle said. However, there was not much quality to be had. The Iron Woman story showed that the producing station invested a great deal of time and care into their subject.”
“What a disappointment that there were so few entries in this category! Maybe the category is due for a tweaking,” McCombs said. “Anchorage did a nice job with an hour-long documentary, and Tucson took on a big topic. ‘Day of the Dead’ was heavy on the travelogue, with nice pictures, but little story. We would have liked to see less music and more sound.”
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In the News Feature category, first place is Jonathan Malat of KARE-TV in Minneapolis for “Farmer Frank.” Second place is Andy Shilts of KMSP-TV in Minneapolis for “Milly,” and third place is Matt Knisely of KMSP-TV for “Camp K.” Honorable mentions were awarded to Steve Rhodes of WTHR-TV in Indianapolis for “Come As You Are In The Family Car,” and to Anne Herbst of KUSA-TV in Denver for “The Pond Patrol.”
The finalists in this category were Thomas McDonald of KDVR-TV in Denver for “A Living Out of Dying”; Brad Argo of WHO-TV in Des Moines for “Life’s a Journey”; Doug Burgess of WFAA-TV in Dallas for “Miami vs. Miami”; Doug Burgess of WFAA-TV in Dallas for “That Brief Moment Between Here and There”; and Tom Sharkey of WWSB-TV in Sarastoa for “Vanishing Radio.”
“We saw a lot of opening montages, which very quickly got old, especially on the stories where it had little to do with the main story thread,” McCombs said. “We didn’t love it on ‘Milly’ but felt that it was integrated into the story well enough to make it work, and the rest of the package was terrific work. ‘Frank’ was a terrific story with lots of small bits and parts that came together for a wonderful whole.”
“I’m sure I’ve said this before, but before you tell me what the story is, why waste a lot of time telling me what the story is not?” Morache said. “You can use details to set a nice frame for the story, but if the viewer can see the corner coming, why, why, why put it there?”
“The two top standouts were both character studies, touching stories with great shooting made the decision easy,” Eagle said. “The photographer of ‘The Pond Patrol’ really thought outside the box, a super cool story!”
“Visual storytelling at it’s finest,” Korff said. “Each piece reminds us why telling the personal stories of real people still matters.”
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In the Judges' Choice category, the winner is Chad Zellmer of WYFF-TV in Greenville, SC, for "Coming Home."
As a group the judges said, "We spent considerable time contemplating which story, out of the hundreds viewed, deserved special recognition. We picked 'Coming Home,' a quiet story of immense strength. Stories about the war in Iraq resonated throughout just about every category we judged. Regardless of how anyone feels about the politics of war, this is arguably the most important story of our time. Photographers, reporters, and news organizations are constantly confronted with images of horror and hope from the front lines to the home front. While we saw a number of touching stories, we also watched a lot of pieces that were cliche, trite, and generally unimpressive.
"As members of the media we have the distinct and critical role of informing viewers about every aspect of this war. We believe that a part of that responsibility is honoring those who shoulder the burden of protecting us. "'Coming Home' is a beautifully-crafted natural-sound piece that, in our opinion, captured with care and with dignity the story of a mother coping with the death of her son."
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In the NPPA Photojournalism Award for Reporting category, first place is Boyd Huppert of KARE-TV in Minneapolis, MN, and second place is Joe Fryer, also of KARE-TV. Finalists in this category were Timothy Blotz of KMSP-TV, Minneapolis; Jeremy Hubbard of KDVR-TV, Denver; Preston Rudie of WTSP-TV, Tampa; and Chris Vanderveen of KUSA-TV, Denver.
“The two winners in this category are true craftsmen,” Korff said. “You get the sense while watching their stories that they instinctually understand the relationship between pictures and words. But we all know its takes a lot of work to create a memorable narrative. Put simply, they make the difficult appear seamless. They know how to write, what to write, and when to let the story write itself. This collection of meaningful stories should set the benchmark for quality television reporting.”
“Lot’s of the tapes that we looked at were interchangeable with the same deliveries, pregnant pauses, etc.,” Eagle said. “Regardless of the subject matter, many got the same treatment. It became cliché quickly. The two winners let the stories tell themselves, giving their work the seamless quality of master storytellers. How lucky to be a viewer living in the Twin Cities.
“We love reporters,” Morache said. “Many days I’ve spent more time with one of them than I did with my wife. We saw many individual stories where they did wonderful things: writing right up to a video moments so they could stop talking and let the viewer experience it; giving the viewers a detail or two that made the video more powerful; delivering powerful prose that was more determined to express than impress. The two reporters who did it consistently were Boyd Huppert and Joe Fryer. They are true photojournalists who can communicate with words, pictures and sound, even if they never pick up a camera or punch an edit button and I’d love to work with either of them someday.”
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Some of the winning videos can be viewed here on the Poynter Institute's Web site.
