NPPA: Best of Photojournalism 2006: Web Site Winners: Best Picture Story

1st (tie): Beside Still Waters; Kari Collins
1st (tie): Varanasi: City on the Ganges; nytimes.com

1st Place (tie)

Photographer Tyler Hicks of The New York Times visited Varanasi, India, the holy city on the western bank of the Ganges River.

Judge's Comments (Keith)

Choosing the Best Picture Story gave the judges the opportunity to review the winners in the various picture story categories and compare, across classification, work from many different sources. It also provided a forum for an impassioned debate on what the essence of a picture story is in the age of the internet.

The judges unanimously choose 'Beside Still Waters' by Kari Collins as one of the best picture stories in this year's competition. They also felt that 2 of the entries from The New York Times also merited consideration. One, a heartfelt portfolio of images from the Gaza pullout and eviction of Israeli settlers. The other, a moving look at the timeless Ganges River. Both featured classically excellent black and white photographs.

Audio and animation, just a few years ago, were part of only a handful of photographer's skill sets. Similarly, very few households had the bandwidth to take advantage of much more than click-through slideshows of moderately sized photos and graphics. That, however, has all changed. Broadband is spreading and with it, more sound and more video.

The judges conferred for over 90 minutes. The two viewpoints that were at loggerheads; can strong pictures stand on their own merits or do they need the presence of a sound track to keep your interest on the web. One judge made some compelling arguments for the heart and soul of the Gaza entry being in its silent, almost reverential presentation of struggle, pain and loss. Strong, emotional photos, hitting the viewer in the gut, should be enough, especially when the subject matter is serious. It was argued that audio, while helpful and important in some instances to online storytelling, should not be viewed as something which, simply by its presence, makes a package better.

Two judges, however, voiced the opinion that, as the web has evolved, good sound is now almost an essential element of photographic storytelling online. Not having sound, even after-the-event narration, was seen as a missed opportunity to make the Gaza package better. The argument over content was an argument over why you would need to add anything to a great photo essay, even in an online presentation.

This is a discussion that will be had more and more as newsrooms move to integrate news gathering for both the printed paper and the web. Deciding what stories to cover with what tools must now include consideration of sound and video. The challenge for photojournalists and their editors will be to know when to move in the direction of multiple media and when to let the pictures carry the story. In the end, The New York Times' 'Varanasi:City on the Ganges' won out over 'Leaving Gaza', to pull into a tie with 'Beside Still Waters' for Best Picture Story. A majority of the judges felt that the Ganges package was solidified by the included narration, moving it ahead of the silent 'Gaza'.

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BOP 2006 > Web Site Winners > Best Picture Story