Best of Photojournalism 2006: TV News Photography: Winners
Sports Photography Finalists
(In Alphabetical Order)
- Doug Burgess-WFAA/Dallas, TX
- “Smells Like Baseball”
- Michael DelGuidice-News 12/Long Island, NY
- “The Streak”
- John Hendon-WYFF/Greenville, SC
- “Fore! No Five”
- Anne Herbst-KUSA/Denver, CO
- “Tennis, Anyone?”
- Ken Mostek-KUSA/Denver, CO
- “Parkour”
- Rick Suhr-KXLY/Spokane,WA
- “The Last Harvest”
- Dan Wood-KUSA/Denver, CO
- “Montezuma’s Revenge”
Winners
- 1st-Doug Burgess-WFAA/Dallas, TX “Smells Like Baseball”
- 2nd-Ken Mostek-KUSA/Denver, CO “Parkour”
- 3rd-John Hendon-WYFF/Greenville, SC “Fore! No Five”
- HM-Rick Suhr-KXLY/Spokane, WA “The Last Harvest”
- HM-Dan Wood KUSA/Denver, CO “Montezuma’s Revenge”
Judges' comments
Lou Davis, in the voice of ABC Sports’ Howard Cosell: “Tonight we are coming to you live from Tampa, Florida, The Poynter Institute, just after judging the Sports category. Where faster pace stories hold our attention, too many sound bites slow the pace down, stories about handicapped people are uninspiring, and photojournalists of all ages need to engage the viewer with natural sound moments that drive the viewer to the television set!”
“It’s clear the contenders, the ones with promising futures, know how to let surprises happen on tape, thrill the audience’s eye with steady sequenced pictures, make the viewer care about characters of stories and have unique/compelling stories. Those who know how to throw the ‘best of the best’ combinations instead of using a ‘rope a dope’ technique came away with the victory! Engage the viewer! Make them care!
This is Lou Davis… Speaking of sports.”
Judge Kevin Labrecque said, “I was surprised to find that out of all the categories that we have done thus far sports seemed to have the best characters, moments, and creativity. The winners really did an outstanding job in all aspects of photojournalism. You guy’s make it look easy and watching these stories could leave a burned-out photographer eager to get back to work. Congratulations.”
Judge Ray Meints said, “The story ‘Smells Like Baseball’ was one of the finest sports stories I’ve watched in a long time. The first place winner not only drew me into the story, I could even smell the leather gloves, the hotdogs and nachos, and everything else that says baseball. Once again great teamwork that blended good pictures, sound, great writing, and something many photogs are familiar with – smells! Everything in this story was perfect. Kudos to the team for working hard and hitting a home run.”
“Second place was also a great story, very unique with great style. ‘Parkour’ is kind of a sport that’s a combination of rock climbing, jumping and skate boarding (without the skateboard). The uniqueness of the sport combined with the photographers unique style, pacing, and use of special effects, produced a second place win that made me ask ‘How’d they do that?’ (the subjects and the photographer). There are not too many times that I choose style over substance, but in this case, style (combined with some substance) worked. Very strong story! Now I need to find out just how those effects were created.”
Judge Greg Stotelmyer said, “I’ll just go ahead and use all the clichés. ‘Smells Like Baseball’ was a grand slam and perfect game all rolled into one. It was the best shot, composed and organized story I’ve seen from the categories judged to date. The story touched so many different bases, but felt like a smooth home run trot. (tired of the clichés yet?) The section of the story about one’s memory of their own baseball mitt was incredibly photographed and delivered. The seamless transitions into both the bat and mitt factories were smooth, unexpected and added depth to an already solid sports story. The amount of work that went into the story was above and beyond. It was hall of fame material.
“Perhaps the best compliment the winner could receive was what it beat to win. ‘Parkour’ was full of excellent techniques with some solid character moments that helped deliver the story to the viewer. Also, good story telling in ‘Fore! No Five.’ Well shot with a story line that kept delivering. Sports, overall, was surprisingly strong.”
Judge Ernesto Torres said, “The sports category was one of the most enjoyable to judge, it had all the elements that make great story telling. First place, ‘Smells like baseball,’ was an example of great storytelling it had great photography and editing along with a very creative stand up that made the whole story move in the right direction. From a technical side it was perfect the weaving of sound and pictures through out the whole story was as good as it gets in telling a compelling story. Second place, ‘Parkour,’ was something very different and unique using nothing but natural sound to tell the story it had great pacing and photography with some very creative editing mixed in. Third place ‘Fore! No Five,’ had a lot of awesome natural moments throughout the story that made it stand out and made you as a viewer care about the characters. Honorable Mention, ‘The last harvest,’ was also a very unique story done very well using a lot of natural moments to keep your attention the whole way. And last but not least was ‘Montezumas revenge,’ an example of a lot of hard work to get a story done in a creative way.”
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