ST. PETERSBURG, FL (February 27, 2009) – Darren Durlach of WBFF-TV in Baltimore, MD, has been named the new Ernie Crisp Television News Photographer of the Year, and Greg T. Johnson of WFAA-TV in Dallas, TX, is the new Video Editor of the Year.
Also winning top honors are KUSA-TV of Denver, CO, for Station of the Year (Large Markets); WHTM-TV of Harrisburg, PA, for Station of the Year (Medium Markets); and KCCI-TV of Des Moines, IA, for Station of the Year (Small Markets).
The winners were announced today by judges who all week have been reviewing entries in NPPA's 2009 Best Of Photojournalism competition's television photography and editing categories at the contest's host site, The Poynter Institute for Media Studies in St. Petersburg.
Winning videos are posted on Poynter's Web site here.
The photography category winners and judges' comments are also posted on the NPPA Best Of Photojournalism site here, and the television editing category winners and judges' comments are posted online here.
In the Photographer of the Year category, Jonathan Malat of KARE-TV in Minneapolis, MN, was the runner-up. Finalists in the category were Durlach, Malat, Anthony Oliveira of WFAA-TV in Dallas, and Corky Scholl of KUSA-TV.
In the Editor of the Year category, freelancer Jeramy Rosenberg was the runner-up.
"What motivates me is making a difference, here in Baltimore," Photographer of the Year Durlach said in his POY entry.
"I am honored to be given the opportunity each day to meet incredible people and help share their stories in a sensitive and compelling way with our viewers. I am also fueled by the exciting changes in our industry which affords us the chance to tell our stories, in several medias, from television to the Web. Few jobs afford you the opportunity to examine your own life from the events of others and while we are charged with 'making it sing on television, we have a responsibility to tell stories in an honest, ethical and respectful way."
Before Durlach came to WBFF-TV he worked for WVIR-TV in Charlottesville, VA. In 2006 he attended the NPPA NewsVideo Workshop in Norman, OK, where he says he "learned more in a week about telling stories than I did about world history in four years of college." He's a graduate of Radford University in Charlottesville with a degree in Media Studies, and started working at WVIR-TV as a production assistant. Two months later when a photojournalist's job opened up at the station, he says the chief photographer "took a chance on me."
Editor of the Year Johnson says that a few years ago he met John Hyjek at a workshop and "My world changed. I knew I wanted to do what he does, to have his passion and his intensity. I knew that I wanted to make people feel something."
Johnson grew up in the small town of Hillsboro, TX, where he says he always loved music and taking pictures. "I won my first contest taking Grand Prize in a local photo contest and I was hooked," he remembers. Johnson went on to study at Baylor University and earned an associates degree at Hill College before graduating with a radio and television degree from East Texas State University.
"I always tell the story that the only college course that I didn't pass was minicam," Johnson said, "the class where they teach you the principles of video photography and editing. Isn't that weird?"
The runner-up Station of the Year (Large Markets) was WTVF-TV in Nashville, TN. Finalists in the category included KARE-TV in Minneapolis and WBFF-TV in Baltimore.
The runner-up Station of the Year (Medium Markets) was WLEX-TV in Lexington, KY. The other finalist in the category was WLOS-TV in Ashville, NC.
The runner-up Station of the Year (Small Markets) was KTUU-TV in Anchorage, AK, last year's winner in this category.
The awards were announced today at the end of the final day of judging the Television Photography and Editing categories in the National Press Photographers Association’s 2009 Best Of Photojournalism contest at The Poynter Institute for Media Studies in St. Petersburg, FL.
During the 2009 Best Of Photojournalism television contest judging there were live, daily online chats with the judges at 12:00 noon EST all week, hosted by Poynter's Al Tompkins. Viewers were be able to ask the judges questions, and to hear what they liked and disliked about the entries they judged that day.
The online chat and the winning videos by category are online here.
Best Of Photojournalism judges for the Television categories this year included returning BOP TV contest chair Merry Murray, a photojournalist for KSNW-TV in Wichita, KS; Ram Guzman of KTVT-TV in Dallas/Fort Worth, TX, the BOP contest chair for the TV Editing categories; Terry Bulger of WSMV-TV in Nashville, TN; Brad Ingram of WGHP-TV in High Point, NC; Scott Jensen of KTUU-TV in Anchorage, AK; Jon Knorr of KOMO-TV in Seattle, WA; Terry Lovell, a freelance television editor in Raleigh, NC; Shane McEachern, of WTXF-TV in Philadelphia, PA; and Tom Sharkey, of WWSB-TV in Sarasota, FL.
The Best Of Photojournalism is sponsored by Canon, The Poynter Institute for Media Studies, and the National Press Photographers Association.
The judges live daily Blog, including updated winners, is online here.
The winning videos are online here.
