Best of Photojournalism 2008: Video News Photography: Winners

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

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48-Hour Feature Finalists

“Cuz Strong”: Jesse Landolt, KCCI-TV/Des Moines, IA
“Dave the Mailman”: Jonathan Malat, KARE - TV/Minneapolis, MN
“fruitcake”: wade smith, ktvi tv/Saint Louis, MO
“Goose Games”: Brett Akagi, KARE-TV/Minneapolis, MN
“Moving Lucy”: Eric Kehe, KUSA-TV/Denver, CO
“Rollin' Squashed in Montague”: Andrew Sugden, Gannett Communications
“Sweaty, Buttery Teamwork”: Darren Durlach, WBFF/Baltimore, MD
“The Trumpeter of the Hawthorne”: Kurt Austin, KGW-TV/Portland, OR
“Tip Of A Cane”: Dan Bolsem, kcci/Des Moines, IA
“Wind Hunters”: Scott Jensen, KTUU-TV/Anchorage, AK

Winners

1st: “Dave the Mailman”; Jonathan Malat, KARE - TV/Minneapolis, MN
2nd: “Sweaty, Buttery Teamwork”; Darren Durlach, WBFF/Baltimore, MD
3rd: “Moving Lucy”; Eric Kehe, KUSA-TV/Denver, CO
HM: “Cuz Strong”; Jesse Landolt, KCCI-TV/Des Moines, IA
HM: “The Trumpeter of the Hawthorne”; Kurt Austin, KGW-TV/Portland, OR

Judges’ comments

Timothy Griffis

Okay, now we understand why jury deliberate for along time and also why government is built on compromise. The debate centered on well-executed “event” stories vs. nicely crafted “people” stories. In the end, two of the top 3 finishers were of the built abound single individuals. Once we narrow the field down to 5 stories, each of the 5 judges had a different piece placed as number one. So then the real work begin. Getting very passionate people from their vote down or up, prove to be more difficult than you would think.

“Moving Lucy” a story about an ICU baby moving around town, looked like a sure winner by one judge, but was ranked 4th or 5th by some of members of the judging panel. After 2 hours of discussion about news philosophies, this story finished 3rd. Just an example of how difficult this process can be.

Robert Gould

WOW! What a crazy-lengthy debate!

We debated for almost 2 hours on the top 5. Everyone had a different number one choice. We argued over why stories should win or not win.

“Dave the Mailman” had great emotional moments. It’s a great slice-of-life story that I’m a sucker for. Dave’s retiring and he feels he’s just a guy that delivers the mail…the neighbors on his route revere him. I really felt a connection to this guy and his neighbors---these kinds of people are what makes the world so unique and it was very well-executed. The photographer was everywhere and captured some wonderful moments.

“Sweaty, Buttery Teamwork” was a story about Navy plebes who had to climb a tower covered in lard to get the hat off of the top. This natural sound piece had great action/reaction and accurately portrayed the tension at the event. It was very well edited and the piece went together very well. The only criticism a couple of us had was some un-explainable static cut-aways, but it didn’t really detract from the overall story.

“Moving Lucy” tugged at emotions that many new parents face. Lucy, a baby in ICU, had to endure a move to a new hospital a few miles away (the old one was closing so many babies were being moved that day). The personalization of the piece made this story memorable. Some argued that the hiccup in the move was over-dramatized. One of the judges argued that we needed to know what the risks were for moving…was it too dramatic when the risk maybe wasn’t that great? I liked this story from the first time I saw it, although I think it took maybe one sot too many at the beginning to get to the fact that they were moving. The photographer and reporter stayed with the story and had a major commitment.

Honorable Mentions went to two very different stories.

“Trumpeter of Hawthorne” was a fun slice-of-life piece about a crazy dude that juggles and plays trumpet (rather badly, I might add) at an intersection. The photog stuck with the guy from morning to evening (although he/she may have left and come back) and worked his camera for a great variety of angles. The action/reaction was great as passing drivers looked on in amazement. Extremely well-executed and I originally had this placing a little higher (I hope that’s some consolation).

“Cuz Strong” was a strong story about a baseball coach with cancer and how the team rallied around him. Some nice moments, but I felt that it didn’t merit a higher ranking. Some nice storytelling, photography and editing, though.

Overall, we had some good stories in this category. The finalists certainly showed they can put together some nice stories, but they weren’t high enough quality to win. Sometimes the story lacked (in nats pieces); sometimes the story just didn’t have the pacing or maybe overused effects. This is a hard category because it’s the one everyone wants to enter.

Jeff Roberts

After a battle, a very long battle, with a discussion of ethics, journalism, stories and styles we came to an eventual consensus with a first place winner.

On the first ballot, all top five stories received a number one vote from each of the judges. Every judge lobbied the others to sway them toward their side. And lobbied. And lobbied. And lobbied. OK, you get the idea. At one time we had cut the 64 entries down to 10 which could have all won on their merits alone. I lost the fight for my number one choice, but I can't feel bad because my second choice, "Dave the Mailman" won this category. None of the entries should feel bad either, they were all winners with the judges.

Preston Rudie

This was a very difficult decision, in fact at one point a case was made for 4 of the 5 finalists to be awarded the winner. But in the end, “Dave the Mailman” was awarded first. The story was fundamentally sound, captured and anticipated some nice moments and went beyond simply meeting the letter carrier out along the route. Some lesser photojournalist/reporters would have made this one stop shopping… maybe meeting the carrier along the route. The story in the words of another judge “captured a slice of American life” and took what some people would deem an ordinary story about a postman retiring and made it extraordinary. Bravo!

Nellie Stinson

I just want all of you out there to know how much every judge here fights for what stories they feel deserves the honor of “winner.” We debate for HOURS; hours and hours about the pros and cons of every shot of every story. Why this, why that. The passion of the judges is overwhelming. It is encouraging to see how many nat packages are strong enough to be contenders in every category. Every finalist in the 48hr. Feature category was compelling. The winner just had a little more.

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