Best of Photojournalism 2008: Video News Editing: Winners

Clips from the Video News Photography and Editing winners in the Best of Photojournalism 2008 are viewable at Poynter Online.

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Photo Essay Finalists (Editors)

(In Alphabetical Order)

“A Booming Year!”
Greg T. Johnson, WFAA/Dallas, TX
“Behind the Firelines”
Jonathon Cordell, First Coast News/Jacksonville, FL
“Bridge Collapse”
Jason Hanson, KSTP/Minneapolis, MN
“Little Snippets of Life”
Joshua Maranhas, KDVR/Denver, CO
“Minimoto”
Shawn Montano, KCNC/Denver, CO

Winners

1st
“Behind the Firelines”
Jonathon Cordell, First Coast News/Jacksonville, FL
2nd
“Bridge Collapse”
Jason Hanson, KSTP/Minneapolis, MN
3rd
“A Booming Year!”
Greg T. Johnson, WFAA/Dallas, TX
HM
“Little Snippets of Life”
Joshua Maranhas, KDVR/Denver, CO

Judges’ comments

Lori Allred & John Hyjek

We were really disappointed. We don’t believe these entries were an honest representation of the talent that we’ve seen out there. We honestly didn’t think any of the pieces deserved to place. But, by comparing the pieces to each other and not to a standard we could see some obvious efforts made. We understand that as an editor you get from a photographer what you get. It’s unlikely someone is going to hand you their better or best work to cut, they will cut it themselves.

That said, if you are going to do an essay piece as an editor, you’re going to have to put on your producer hat and tell a good story. Step back from it, think about what the first-time viewer will see and think. Then hone it some more. A photo essay is more than just a bunch of bites strung together, then covered.

Winning in this category “BEHIND THE FIRELINE” managed to tell a story with a beginning, middle and end with very little to work with. “BRIDGE COLLAPSE” second place, and ‘A BOOMING YEAR” third place. Honorable mention to “LITTLE SNIPPETS OF LIFE”.

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