Best of Photojournalism 2006: TV News Photography: Winners
General News Finalists
(In Alphabetical Order)
- Kurt Austin, KGW, TV, Portland, OR
- “Welcome Home Brady Phelps”
- Kristen Bergeron, KTVT-TV, Dallas, TX
- “C’mon Guys Let’s Go!”
- “We Gotta Clean Up”
- Mike D’Angelo, WGN-TV, Chicago, IL
- “Running of the Brides”
- Michael DelGiudice, News12-TV, Long Island, NY
- “Let the Ride Begin”
- Bradley Hillwig, KTUU-TV, Anchorage, AK
- “October Miss and the Chickens”
- Geoff Levine, KGUN-TV, Tucson, AZ
- “Getting’ the Guns”
- Jonathan Malat, KARE-TV, Minneapolis, MN
- “The Mail Must Get Through”
- Paul Pytlowany, WWJ-TV, Detroit, MI
- “Young Drummer”
- Byron Reed
- “Photo Op”
Winners
- 1st Kristen Bergeron, KTVT-TV, Dallas, TX, “We Gotta Clean Up”
- 2nd Jonathan Malat, KARE-TV, Minneapolis, MN, “The Mail Must Get Through”
- 3rd Kristen Bergeron, KTVT-TV, Dallas, TX, “C’mon Guys Let’s Go”
- HM, Byron Reed, KUSA-TV, Denver, CO, “Photo Op”
- HM, Mike D’Angelo, WGN-TV, Chicago, IL , “Running of the Brides”
Judges' comments
“Two words: razor thin,” Lou Davis said. “The winner caught the defining moment of the story, had a beginning, middle and end, conflict-TV, resolution, and entered a story that we all have to do… citizens dealing with city government! I felt that capturing the defining moment on tape was key is this decision. It was small, but meant so much to the story! Everything leading up to this in the story and everything after could go back to moment and make sense.”
“An important note for General News entries: We had a lot of stories that were well done! Some had great news angles, some had great pictures! Those stories that struck a balance between the two, tried to take a new approach to the same old story and then were well produced caught the judges’ eye!”
“I voted to eject more tapes in this category than in any other,” Kevin Labrecque said. “There were only three that made me go Wow. There were a lot of pretty pictures but I think more of an emphasis needs to be placed on story telling for next year. So overall there was not anything that was really compelling to get behind and say yes that’s the one for me.”
“The story ‘We Gotta Clean Up’ in First place, I love photo essays,” Ray Meints said. “This was a very well done piece that did a very good job of following a story from beginning to end. The challenge when producing news photo essays is making sure all the sound needed to tell the story is there. This winner demonstrated the ability to not only visually document the story, but ‘listen’ and gather the sound needed to ‘write’ the photo essay as well.”
“Another positive aspect of ‘We Gotta Clean Up’ was that it was a people story, from the woman singing on her front porch, to the neighbors. It avoided interviewing any officials, except for one quick natural sound bite that was absolutely needed to advance the story. To me, good photojournalism is about people, people, people. Nice job!”
“Second place, ‘Mail Must Get Thru,’ was a good example of working in extreme weather conditions. Well shot. Third place, this was a story that was very well shot. One of the better aspects of ‘Come On Guys Lets Go,’ was the stand up. A great example of a stand, up that had a meaning, and visually advanced the story. Well done.”
“Three days into the judging and there’s no way to defend my fellow reporters who botch potentially good stories,” Greg Stotelmyer said. “Thankfully the great majority of reporters have been good teammates for their photographers. But, there are exceptions. If something’s going to blow up you don’t have to warn your viewers. Leave it out of the script. Your viewers can hang on for a few frames because the video will document what blows up, and thanks to that natural sound mike, they will hear it too.”
“Okay, all sarcasm aside about that painful entry in this category, there were several worthy of being considered as a finalist. Yet, as an overall category, with 77 entries, the lack of consistent quality should encourage others to enter next year. There’s room for better day, of turns in general news. We all see them weekly in our markets, but we didn’t see that many here.”
“The winner, ‘We Gotta Clean Up’ was a clean, simple, straightforward story that made me say, “I get it.” It had real folks in real moments in several different locations. The pay off was when citizens needing a lot near their homes cleaned up went to city hall and got a promise from a city official. The photographer was there to capture the moment. I’m sure there are stations that would have dismissed this story because it involved government. This photographer did not and now he or she has won first place. It’s well deserved.”
“The top few stories in this category were all solid, simple stories delivered well through the eyes of real people. Good job.”
Judge Ernesto Torres said, “‘Suddenly, there is an explosion,’ was one of many lines that reporters used to describe an obvious thing happing in a story! Photographers please talk to reporters about a story before and get an idea where you are going with it to see if both of you are on the same page. Now to the stories that did win, there where all great they had everything you would want in a well told story, pacing, a defining moment, creativeness, and commitment to tell an interesting story. The winning story was perfect because it had what all well stories should have a beginning, middle, and an ending, and it was done at a very high technical level.”
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