Judges' Comments

• This was a difficult category for us to judge because each entry had a little of everything we were looking for, but none had them all. There are holes in multimedia packages that are being produced across the country. We need better graphics, photography, audio, video, interactive designs, and usability to make a package work.

  To make a more comprehensive package, photographers, editors, graphic designers, and reporters should collaborate at the beginning of a story. None of the entries brought together elements of strong visual journalism and the technology of the web.

  We chose “Not Just A Number” because it was absorbing and it best utilized the power of the web, although it could have been refined. It was hard to navigate, but it was loaded with great graphics, databases, videos, photos, and audio. We also thought the map should have been used as the interface for the project.

  “Hellgate” came in second because it had a lot of good elements and a design. Also, it was easy to navigate throughout the site.

  Irwin Thompson