Best of Photojournalism 2007: TV News Editing: Winners
Sports Feature Editing Finalists
(In Alphabetical Order)
- “A More Special Player”
- Douglas Burgess, WFAA Dallas
- “A New Roll in Life”
- Douglas Burgess, WFAA Dallas
- “Age to Spare”
- Steve Rhodes, WTHR Indianapolis
- “Baseball Begging”
- Thomas McDonald, KDVR Denver
- “Every Dog Has His Day”
- Chris Cheline, KDVR Denver
- “I Think We Won”
- John Gross, KSTP St. Paul MN
- “It’s About Having Fun”
- Ryan Borgman, KDVR Denver
- “It’s Football, Sir”
- Stan Heist, WBFF Baltimore
- “Michael Annett: On the Fast Track”
- Brian Fiser, WHO Des Moines
- “Mosquitoes of the Motorway”
- Todd Rogenthien KVUE Austin
- “Murderball”
- Ron Stover, KARE Minneapolis
Winners
Full coverage of the Best of Television Photojournalism 2007 — including streaming video of selected winners--are available from Poynter.org.
- 1st
- “It’s Football, Sir”
- Stan Heist/WBFF Baltimore
- 2nd
- “A More Special Player”
- Douglas Burgess/WFAA Dallas
- 3rd
- “Baseball Begging”
- Thomas McDonald/KDVR Denver
- HM
- “Michael Annett: On the Fast Track”
- Brian Fiser/WHO Des Moines
- HM
- “Murderball”
- Ron Stover/KARE Minneapolis
Judges' comments
- Mike Humphries
It's Football, Sir" is a tour de force of shots and sound from a Naval Academy football game. The editor kept a great pace throughout the story by using interviews and natural sound from fans before, during and after the game. Shot variety and selection was top-notch, with every piece of video and sound helping to further the story. An outstanding piece of 1st Place storytelling.
A story about a young football player with autism, "A More Special Player" also maintained a compelling pace to show how the boy, his coach, fellow players and his parents deal with his "special needs' and special personality. The editing maturity displayed in the piece was first rate, with plenty of natural sound and moments. The editing was invisible, not drawing attention to itself and, instead, letting the story play out elegantly. A well-done job.
"Baseball Begging" introduces us to a married couple who are huge baseball fans who happen to be vision-impaired. It, too, has great sound and moments as the couple tries to get baseballs during their team's pre-game batting practice. The pacing kept the story interesting and the great storytelling choices made by this editor are evident throughout.
The two Honorable Mention stories, "Michael Annett: On the Fast Track" and "Murderball" also used effective editing techniques to tell their stories. Both editors used picture-in-picture at times to show interviews while the action of the stories was taking place "in the background". These stories each used good natural sound and shot variety to give the pieces good, even varying pacing. Solid efforts on the part of both of these editors.
As evidenced by the lengthy list of finalists, this category had several strong entries. Lots of good work was on display. However, some editors in this category should keep in mind that many times overuse of effects and natural sound can dilute the impact or even the basic message of a story. Some pieces were marred by choppy natural sound that broke up reporter audio and sound bites to the point that it was difficult to keep track of just what the story was supposed to be about. Always keep the viewer in mind and don't let the editing get in the way of the story.
- Stephanie Ottjepka
"It's Football, Sir" is phenomenal. While we saw a lot of nice entries in this category, this was an easy first choice for me. The changes of speed in the single edits and in the sequences really set it apart. There were build ups, slow downs with stillness for anticipation, edits for emphasis down to a single frame during a cheer which made your heart race, pauses for intimate moments with a disappointed fan, and humor with "Oh Golly" and the second shot of the push-ups. It really transported you to the game and made you feel a wide range of emotions.
"A More Special Player" was a sweet seamless story that sucked you in. I like that the story took center stage instead of the editing. There were so many nice moments and the editing was so clean you could focus on them. The shot choices were very smart. I liked the slow motion on the closing shot.
"Baseball Begging" had nice pacing and shot choice. The first shot of "Can we have the ball?" looked like the other woman said it and helped set up the surprise. There were a couple of times where track was placed in the middle of nat breaks on the same shot and it was seamless. The out cue was a good example of that. I also liked the subtle edit of showing the excitement of her hands on the railing over another "Can we have the ball?".
"Michael Annett" had a really creative beginning to the piece. I liked the slide guitar music that was picked and the cut edits of the still photos that covered it. The pacing of this piece changed appropriately with the changes in the story. The racing section was edited to make you feel it. Ithought the editing of this story really carried it. I also thought the bookends with the music worked.
I liked the way "Murderball" overlaid the bites over the shots of them playing. The editor cut out the face, added a soft edge, resized if necessary and placed over an empty space in the action. This was not cheesy, served the story and added a nice style to it. The sequences were quick when they needed to be and slower when the track or action was more important. I liked the humor in the nat bites of "nice hit", "hit her again".
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