National Press Photographers Association

Best Use of Photography: 1st Quarter 2011 Results

 

2011 1st Quarter BUP Results

First quarter entries were judged at the Denver Post by senior photography editor Ken Lyons, photographers Joe Amon and Craig Walker and lead A1 designer Matt Swaney..

 

NEWS:

Judges’ comments: There were some very strong pages in this category, mostly containing content from the big news events from the first quarter such as the Japan Earthquake and unrest in Egypt. The LA Times took all three places with pages that had a clear dominant image. The right image was choses as the lead on each page and the other images supported the visual storytelling very well with no repetition. The Pilot had a very strong front page with an image of the Tsunami dominating most of the page. Many pages didn't make the cut due to secondary images that killed the page. Remember as photo editors to pay attention to every element on the page. We saw many secondary images that were repetitive with the main.

1st: Los Angeles Times, March 12
“Earthquake in Japan”
Team

2nd: Los Angeles Times, February 4
“Unrest in Egypt
Team, with photographs by Carolyn Cole

3rd: Los Angeles Times, March 17
“”Crisis in Japan”
Team

Honorable Mention: The Virginian-Pilot, March 12
“Killer Tsunami”
Randall Greenwell, Martin Smith-Rodden and the design team.

 

 

 

FEATURE:

Judges’ comments: In this category we saw some very nice risk taking and opportunities for picture editors and designers to break away from the norm and try new things. First place by The Commercial Appeal was a great idea for a photo essay and photographed in a conceptual way. The main image was one that didn't appeal to the judges right away as an obvious choice but in the end that was also what made it attractive. The second place page was a nice way of seeing and used very creative cropping and play for a photo essay. Third place was a more straightforward approach about an Inn but we liked the simple elegance of the page. The Palm Beach Post page was also done in a very elegant, simple way that allowed the images to tell the story.

1st: The Commercial Appeal, February 27
“Abandoned Memphis”
John Sale, Alan Spearman and Lindsey Turner.

2nd: The Virginian-Pilot, January 30
“Defying gloom”
L. Todd Spencer, Bill Kelley III and Luis Vilches.

3rd: The Virginian-Pilot, March 13
“Innkeeping Elite”
L. Todd Spencer, Bill Kelley III and Stacy Addison.

Honorable Mention.: The Palm Beach Post, January 12
“Hope for the homeless”
Mark Edelson, Lannis Waters, and Hector Retamal (AFP/Getty Images).

 

 

PICTURE PAGE:

Judges’ comments: This was one of the strongest categories and a breath of fresh air in a day when space is becoming so precious. As you'll see the Eyewitness pages won first and a couple of honorable mentions. There is a reason why you often see these pages win. First, it's a great dedication of space to world issues when many papers aren't dedicating this kind of real estate to these stories. Also, they are strongly edited with very deliberate decisions being made on image selection and play. Second place was a beautiful, elegant pictorial on the Everglades done very well. It had very nice image selection. The Haiti page by The Palm Beach Post was another page edited with a more simple, straightforward approach, that didn't try anything fancy because it didn't need to. One of the things judges wanted to stress was when you have great photography, let it speak loudly by letting the images tell the story rather than a preconceived design concept.

1st: The Virginian-Pilot, March 13
“Eyewitness Libya”
Martin Smith-Rodden with photos by The Associated Press, AFP and Getty Images.

2nd: The St. Petersburg Times, March 13
“ForeverGlades”
Bruce Moyer, Carlton Ward Jr. and Paul Alexander.

3rd: The Palm Beach Post, January 12
“Haiti, elections”
Mark Edelson with photos by Damon Winter/The New York Times and Emilio Morenatti/The Associated Press.

Honorable Mention: The Virginian-Pilot, February 27
“Eyewitness: Earthquake”
Martin Smith-Rodden with photos by The Associated Press, Kyodo and Reuters.

Honorable Mention: The Virginian-Pilot, February 6
“Eyewitness: Egypt”
Martin Smith-Rodden with photos by The Associated Press and Reuters.

 

 

 

SPORTS:

Judges’ comments: The sports pages that jumped out at us were the ones where a great image received the play it deserved and made loud statements. That was the case with all the pages that won. Nice selections were made in each main image with nice secondary images

1st: The Oregonian, February 7
“Mr. Rodger's Neighborhood” 
Rob Finch and Shawn Barkdull with A.P. photos.

2nd: The Oregonian, January 11
“Aw, Burned”
Jamie Francis, Rob Finch, Randy Cox and Kelly Yan.

3rd: The Virginian-Pilot, March 7
“Intense? Yes!”
L. Todd Spencer, Buddy Moore and Julie Jacobson (A.P.)

Honorable Mention: The Virginian-Pilot, March 7
“2-per Duper”
Preston Gannaway and Martin Smith-Rodden.

 

 

MULTIPLE PAGE:

Judges’ comments: With a quarter full of very big world events we were surprised to see only a few papers dedicating space to these stories. The ones that did, did so very well, with authority. The LA Times earthquake section was powerful. The incredible images from there were played well with good secondary, non-repetitive images. The Haiti section by The Palm Beach Post was elegant and did a great job of updating readers where Haiti is now, a year after the quake. The Commercial Appeal section on Abandoned Memphis was a good conceptual idea, with very nice editing throughout. In any other quarter it may have placed higher, but the massive world events produced powerful images that were hard to ignore even though they were ignored by many papers across the country.

1st: Los Angeles Times, March 12
“Earthquake in Japan”
Team.

2nd: The Palm Beach Post, January 12
“Still Haunted”
Mark Edelson with staff photos by Lannis Waters and photos by The New York Times, The Associated Press, AFP and Getty Images.

3rd: The Commercial Appeal, February 27
“Abandoned Memphis”
John Sale, Alan Spearman and Lindsey Turner.

 
 

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

 

 

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