January 15 Deadline To Enter Costa Courtroom Contest

 

MUNCIE, IN (December 30, 2008) – The deadline for submitting images to this year’s Joseph Costa Award for Courtroom Photography is January 15, 2009. The Costa Award seeks to honor the photographer whose courtroom coverage is judged to best demonstrate the use of still photography in what is a highly sensitive and increasingly controversial reporting situation.

Costa, a former lecturer in photojournalism at Ball State University in Muncie, IN, and the founder of NPPA, was in the forefront of the effort to have cameras in the courtroom after the struggle intensified in the 1930s. Prior to his service as a teacher, Costa was active as a newspaper photographer or photography supervisor for the New York Morning News, the New York Daily News, and the New York Daily Mirror.

No entry form is required. Entries must have been published in a newspaper or magazine during the 2005 calendar year, and entries should consist of a clipping of the published work (and optionally a print or prints no larger than 8" x 10"). If clippings only are submitted, the winner will be asked to furnish a high-resolution digital file and a print for display at Ball State University.

Each entry must also include a letter signed by the photographer or a representative of the publication that describes the circumstances of the photograph(s), the publication name, the date of publication, the photographer's name, address, and telephone number. Multiple-image entries are permitted. Entries must be postmarked by the January 15 entry deadline.

Contest director Ken Heinen said, “Since many states have responded to the efforts of Costa and others by allowing courtroom photography, Ball State University uses this award to acknowledge both the long and outstanding efforts of Joseph Costa and the exceptional work being carried out by today's courtroom photographers.”

Mark Hertzberg of The Journal Times in Racine, WI, has won the award an unprecedented four times (in 1987, 2001, 2006, and 2007).

All entries should be sent to:

Ken Heinen
Joseph Costa Award for Courtroom Photography
Department of Journalism - AJ300
Ball State University
Muncie, IN 47306

Heinen can be reached at kenheinen@bsu.edu or by telephone at +1.765.285.7997.

 

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