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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TV News Feature Finalists

“Bud the Spud”: Jeff Christian/KMSP Minneapolis, MN
“Date Night in Denver”: Anne Herbst/KUSA Denver, CO
“Entry Level”: Jonathan Malat/KARE Minneapolis, MN
“Fit for a King”: Steve Rhodes/WTHR Indianapolis, IN
“The Holy Herd”: Corky Scholl/KUSA Denver, CO
“Plastic Cameras”: Peter Rosen/KUTV Salt Lake City, UT
“Seaholm’s Swan Song”: Todd Rogenthien/KVUE Austin, TX
“The Walworth”: Jeff Christian/KMSP Minneapolis, MN
“Whaling as a Way of Life”: Scott Jensen/KTUU Anchorage, AK

Winners

1st: “The Walworth”; Jeff Christian, KMSP/Minneapolis, MN
2nd: “Plastic Cameras”; Peter Rosen, KUTV/Salt Lake City, UT
3rd: “Entry Level”; Jonathan Malat, KARE/Minneapolis, MN
HM: “The Holy Herd”; Corky Scholl, KUSA/Denver, CO
HM: “Seaholm’s Swan Song”; Todd Rogenthien, KVUE/Austin, TX

Judges’ Comments

Tim Griffis

Long Features give us most opportunities to do our best work. This was the best category we judge in the whole contest. Of the 90 entries, 10 stories were forwarded to the big room. We actually enjoyed watching these entries. The top 5 places could have all been easy winners.

“The Walworth”, a story about a teenager running from dock to dock delivering mail on lake while the boat didn’t stop… it really captured the frenzied pace of the whole thing.

The rest of the entries were equally award worthy. I would suggest perhaps emailing the photographers directly and getting a copy of each on of these stories. There is something to be learned from each on one these pieces.

Bob Gould

Well we had the most fun with this category, because as typical, this category boasted the best quality entries.

“The Walworth” was a fun story...some great moments in this piece. This is about a High School kid who works on a mailboat and has to race to deliver the mail at everyone’s dock around the lake. He only has a few seconds to hop off the boat, jump on the dock and drop the mail in the box before the boat floats past. The photographer stayed with the story and tried to keep up with him as he ran across a couple of yards to get back on the boat. My only criticism was that I thought the open leading to the kid was a hair too long…

“Plastic Camera” was a unique story and extremely well-crafted and produced. This is a story you gotta see to understand and no words can really explain how different this story was. I enjoyed it immensely…totally out of the box and fun to watch.

“Entry Level,” a piece about a budding young lemonade stand salesman, really had wonderful moments. The photographer captured the essence of this child-entrepreneur…the kid was great!

The Honorable Mentions in this piece went to two different stories: The “Holy Herd” provided something a little different. A herd of deer arrives just in time to see choir rehearsal inside the church. Amazed parishioners can’t believe their eyes when they look out and see all these deer. Beautifully shot and great job capturing the moments, especially shooting the interviews against the window and seeing the deer in the background.

Seaholm Swan Song was beautifully produced with some nice elements. A joy to watch.

Because the quality of the entries was so high, we had an extremely tough time coming to a consensus. We had a spirited debate, but all felt comfortable with the results.

Jeff Roberts

Easily the category with the most interest among NPPA members because of the ninety entries in this group. Lots of debate among the judges because of the many entries being outstanding stories in their own right. Unlike what I saw in the spot news category this is what photojournalists excel at in this contest. Everybody shooting a feature should try and watch these five stories which all hit home to me.

The first place story “The Walworth” really set the bar and anchored me to the story by making me feel like a passenger on the boat and letting the story breathe.

“Plastic Camera” was a well thought out story where the quick shots and editing really worked. Nice supertight shots and diverse framing in the interviews and standup are what made this a second place entry for me.

Third place “Entry Level” had a strong pint sized main character in a suit...a lemonade stand mogul named Ethan. Made a winner...gathering lots of sound from the customers and their reactions to the young man’s lemonade stand. My favorite moment is where young Ethan may have practiced a little too much quality control moving inside quickly while announcing “gotta go, gotta go, gotta go.”

Preston Rudie

Everyone should watch the top 5 in this category; we can all learn something and appreciate the work that was put into these stories.

For me “The Walworth,” “Entry Level” and “The Holy Herd” captured some wonderful moments. Applause to the reporter and photojournalist in “The Walworth” for simply letting the video roll when the boy delivers the mail. It helps let the viewer feel like they are on The Walworth. I also appreciate that once the surprise is reveled the reporter and photojournalist build the piece by showing the teen delivering the mail, then showing him on a longer run before finally showing the boy running along the shore. The story had a nice progression and was very memorable. Great job!

“Entry Level” was the best written story in my opinion. I loved the moment when the boy ran into the house saying “gotta go, gotta go, gotta go.” The photojournalist did a yeomen’s job capturing the interaction between the boy and the customers and all in all it was fun watching this piece.

“Plastic Camera” was amazing! The tight shots set a standard and I loved the use of still pictures with video. This clearly took time and an incredible amount of effort. The fear in doing this type of thing is it can look cheap, but in this story it is a homerun.

Please take a minute to watch “Seaholm’s Swan Song,” you will see a simple, clean story with some solid shot composition. But more importantly you will see the use of a double box that really works.

Nellie Stinson

Not only was this my favorite category, it also had the most entries and like I’ve said before, one of the hardest. All of the finalists kept my attention throughout the piece, gave me some ideas to take back, and all of them had a moment that I remember.

The winner was solid and had more “moments” than the other finalists. The photographer was able to follow the action and even had to run with the subject.

My personal favorite is called “The Holy Herd”. It’s a story about a herd of deer that congregate outside of a church to listen to the choir sing. To me, this was beautifully shot at night, edited to the sound, and just a memorable story. It is one of my favorite stories from the week. To me this piece embodies the spirit of a News Feature. Nicely done!

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