National Press Photographers Association

Best Use of Photography: 4th Quarter 2009 Results

 

2009 4th Quarter BUP Results

Fourth quarter were judged at Ohio University by Becky Sell, Julie Elman, and Stan Alost. The judging was coordinated by Uma Sanghvi.

The overall 2009 Best Use Of Photography contest was won by The Virginian-PIlot.

 

NEWS:

1st: The Virginian-Pilot, November 13, 2009
“Nor’beaster”
Stephen Katz, Steve Earley and Martin Smith-Rodden.
Judges’ comments: Clear winner. Great individual images presented well together.

2nd: The Virginian-Pilot, November 4, 2009
“Jobs, economy at heart of message”
Hyunsoo Leo Kim and Martin Smith-Rodden.
Judges’ comments: An excellent moment, and presented well on the page, the imagery is balanced well on the page. Text heavy. The page is well balanced with white space.

3rd: The Virginian-Pilot, November 11, 2009
“At Fort Hood, a memorial service for slain soldiers””
Stephen Katz, Martin Smith-Rodden and the Design Team.
Judges’ comments: There were three images that worked well on the page. The downpage images didn’t detract from the emotion of the lead.

 

 

FEATURE:

1st: Los Angeles Times, November 24, 2009
“Along a hardscrabble stretch of river, a current of fear remains”
Mary Vignoles, Francine Orr and Derek Simmons.
Judges’ comments: Lead images are played well, engaging. Puts you in a place you wouldn’t normally go, and lets you explore. Good variety in supporting images. You still feel like you’re meeting the characters, and each character is different.

2nd: The Virginian-Pilot, November 29, 2009
“Changed in a moment”
Stephen Katz, Bill Kelley III and the Design Team.
Judges’ comments: The images work together to express a difficult to convey concept. It is an engaging way to use what are basically mug shots. Highly conceptual as a whole. Showing something that can’t be shown in a photo or two, and doing it through design with images in a smart way.

3rd: Los Angeles Times, November 5, 2009
“In Arizona, trying to bring a frozen lake back to life”
Mary Vignoles, Barbara Davidsona and Kelli Sullivan.
Judges’ comments: Great lead picture. Compelling lead image. Showed a strong editing hand. Less than compelling secondary.

HM: The Virginian-Pilot, December 27, 2009
“The decade in photos”
Stephen Katz, Bill Kelley III and the Lori Kelley.
Judges’ comments: Engaging page. Feeling of a magazine front. Strong choice for lead.

 

 

 

PICTURE PAGE:

1st: The Virginian-Pilot, October 4, 2009
“Tsunami strikes the Samoas”
Martin Smith-Rodden and the Design Team with a photo by Hugh Gentry of Reuters.
Judges’ comments: They had the gumption to resist the urge to add other elements to the page; to take a compelling image and give it the size to have impact on readers.

2nd: The Virginian-Pilot, December 27, 2009
“Heading home (eventually) for the holidays”
Ross Taylor and the Design Team with photos by The Associated Press.
Judges’ comments: Good picture editing. We really struggled between awarding first to this and the first place page. Each image really adds relevant information to the whole.

3rd: The Virginian-Pilot, November 8, 2009
“Time to choose”
Martin Smith-Rodden and the Design Team with photos by Ross Taylor, Hyunsoo Leo Kim and Stephen M. Katz.
Judges’ comments: Predictable but well done.

Honorable mentions:
Judges’ comments: Both pages demonstrate good use of a dominant image. The choice for secondary images was safe; the secondary images don’t maintain that sense of surprise.

The Virginian-Pilot, December 13, 2009
“A brrrracing week across the country”
Martin Smith-Rodden and the Design Team with photos by The Associated Press and Getty Images.

The Palm Beach Post, November 20, 2009
“Let the music play”
Mark Edelson and Drew Angerer.

 

 

SPORTS:

1st: The Virginian-Pilot, December 30, 2009
“Big beginnings”
Team
Judges’ comments: A fresh and thoughtful approach to sports. Overall smart editing. Each individual image contributes to the page. No redundancy.

2nd: Los Angeles Times, December 4, 2009
“Dorsey football team is a haven”
Rob St. John, Robert Gauthier and Kelli Sullivan.
Judges’ comments: Strong dominant image; has emotion. Other images support the main image.

3rd: The Palm Beach Post, November 29, 2009
“Fond and fitting”
Ron Falch, Bill Ingram and Chris Burt with photos by The Associated Press.
Judges’ comments: An effective image that gives us a look at a well regarded football player at his last moments. This was something that could have easily fallen into a more conventional look. Not an obvious choice.

HM: The Palm Beach Post, December 6, 2009
“Perfection denied”
Ron Falch, Bill Ingram and Chris Burt with photos by Allen Eyestone and Getty Images.
Judges’ comments: Strong emotion and unique choice of dominant image. The placement of the secondary images don’t fully support the dominant.

HM: St. Petersburg Timnes, October 12, 2009
“Right man for the job?”
Stefanie Boyar, Dirk Shadd, Brendan Fitterer and Jen Hiatt.
Judges’ comments: A good variety of images on a single topic, and well presented on the page.

 

 

MULTIPLE PAGE:

1st: Midland Daily News, November 29, 2009
“Flocking together”
Ryan Wood and John Tully.
Judges’ comments: Strong images across the board that hold together well as a picture essay. Despite all photos being shot wide, it doesn’t feel all the same as a photo edit.

2nd: The Virginian-Pilot, November 8, 2009
“A journey of honor, kinship and memories”
Amanda Lucier, Bill Kelley and the Magazine Team.
Judges’ comments: Despite some redundancy on the third page, the first two pages were so strong both in concept and how each image was presented. Good balance of non-literal images and still being able to tell the story.

3rd: St. Petersburg Times, October 18, 2009
“Sisters in arms”
Bruce Moyer, Kathleen Flynn and Holly Braford.
Judges’ comments: Strong moments. Although the two leads on first two pages are redundant.

Honorable mentions:
Judges’ comments: All three stories include excellent images, and all three show picture editing flair. But there were enough redundancies to prevent them from rising higher in the field.

The Virginian-Pilot, October 4, 2009
“After Floyd, the river took their town”
Bill Kelley III and Bill Tiernan.

The Virginian-Pilot, November 12-15, 2009
“Three-Day Nor’easter”
Randy Greenwell, Norm Shafer, Martin Smith-Rodden, Bill Kelley III and the Photo and Design Teams.

The Record, October 11, 2009
“Desperation street”
Robert S. Townsend, Jon Naso and Leslie Barbaro.

 

 

 

Comments? Corrections? More information? Next quarter's deadline? Contact BUP contest chair Mark Edelson at medelson@pbpost.com.

 

 

 

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