National Press Photographers Association

Best Use of Photography: 4th Quarter 2008 Results

For News, Feature, Picture Pages, Sports, Multi-Page

2008 4th Quarter BUP Results

Entries were judged at Western Kentucky University by Jeanie Adams-Smith, Associate Professor of Photojournalism; Tim Broekema, Associate Professor of Photojournalism; James Kenney, Professor of Photojournalism; and Brian Masck, Photojournalist-in-Residence.

NEWS:

1st: Disqualified.

2nd: Los Angeles Times, November 15, 2008
“Fierce fire consumes 111 homes”
Colin Crawford, Mary Cooney, Rob St. John, Calvin Hom, Michael Robinson Chavez, Al Seib and Genaro Molina.
Judges’ comments: The package told a great, complete story on a single page with visual variety and a good graphic.

3rd: Los Angeles Times, October 4, 2008
“1 dead, 2 wounded”
Rob St. John, Bob Chamberlin and Rick Collins.
Judges’ comments: A solid news page, with a good balance of dominant and secondary images.

Honorable mentions:

The Oregonian, November 5, 2008
“A look back at the campaign that was”
Bruce Ely, Rob Finch, Patty Reksten, Mike Zacchino and Kelly Yan.
Judges’ comments: The strong picture played at the top of the page effectively localizes the campaign coverage.

 

 

FEATURE:

Judges’ comments: The pages we voted out were either cluttered or did not have the visual impact of the final selections.

1st: The Palm Beach Post, November 30, 2008
“Season to Share”
Mark Edelson, Damon Higgins, Nicole Neal and Rebecca Vaughan.
Judges’ comments: It got its point across immediately; we recognized the intention of the page and liked the impact of the images.

2nd: The Oregonian, October 26, 2008
“Rockville School”
Jamie Francis, Patty Reksten, Molly Swisher and Joany Carlin.
Judges’ comments: We liked the feel of this page and thought the visual variety of the two pictures was strong.

3rd: The Palm Beach Post, November 30, 2008
“She comes through for everyone”
Mark Edelson, Damon Higgins, Nicole Neal and Rebecca Vaughan.
Judges’ comments: This page had effective use of a detail as a dominant image.

 

Honorable mentions:

The Virginian-Pilot, April 3, 2008
“Keeping the faith”
Stephen Katz and Bill Kelley III.
Judges’ comments: It’s a formula that works, in this case effectively displaying nice portraits.

The Palm Beach Post, November 16, 2008
“Historic Journey”
Mark Edelson, Mike Perkins, Pete Cross, Greg Lovett and Win McNamee (Getty Images)
Judges’ comments: Gutsy use of a picture with a good angle.

The Palm Beach Post / La Palma, November 16, 2008
“Dia de los Muertos”
Mark Edelson with photos by Getty Images, the Associated Press and EFE.
Judges’ comments: Classic picture story play, celebrating photographers’ work (though we didn’t agree with the choice of lead image).

 

PICTURE PAGE:

Judges’ comments: The top three and one honorable mention were from The Virginian-Pilot’s “Eyewitness.” The section consistently played pictures well, varying the subject matter and layout from week to week; these pages were gifts to readers. We felt there was strong content celebrated in all our picks.

1st: The Virginian-Pilot, November 15, 2008
“Crisis in Africa”
Martin Smith-Rodden with photos by Getty Images and the Associated Press.
Judges’ comments: Of all these sections this one had the most emotional impact and visual variety to serve the powerful content.

2nd: The Virginian-Pilot, October 4, 2008
“May your new year be sweet”
Martin Smith-Rodden with photos by Dan Balilty of the Associated Press.
Judges’ comments: This page was informative as well as lovely to look at (we would have loved it in color!).

3rd: The Virginian-Pilot, November 1, 2008
“Pakistan quake”
Martin Smith-Rodden with photos by the Associated Press.
Judges’ comments: Once again, good visual variety with emotional subject matter.

 

Honorable mentions:

The Virginian-Pilot, December 6, 2008
“Wails for Mumbai”
Martin Smith-Rodden with photos by the Associated Press and Getty Images.
Judges’ comments: Consistent in design and impact story-telling.

The Palm Beach Post, June 29, 2008
“Adulation and scrutiny”
Mark Edelson, Greg Lovett, Pete Cross, and Mike Perkins with photography by Getty Images and the Associated Press.
Judges’ comments: The impact of the lead image was terrific, but we were not as pleased with the choice of the fist-bump photo. But excellent lay for the readers.

The Palm Beach Post / La Palma, November 14, 2008
“Pero su pocion es delirante”
Mark Edelson with photos by the Associated Press and Getty Images.
Judges’ comments: A classic approach to the a collection of championship photos, and it was great to take a photo-op and make something of it.

 

 

SPORTS:

Judges’ comments: The awards came down to clean, concise play that allowed photos to tell the stories of the games and events.

1st: The St. Petersburg Times, October 2, 2008
“Amazing rays”
Stefanie Boyar, Brian Cassella, Andy Braford and Chris Kozlowski.
Judges’ comments: The play was spectacular and we could picture this section front hanging up on walls all over the city. Nice to celebrate a good reaction image.

2nd: The Rocky Mountain News, October 13, 2008
“Slip sliding away”
Mark Holm, Darin McGregor and Joe Mahoney.
Judges’ comments: Simply good story-telling. All the elements worked well together and the photos complemented each other in a smart way.

3rd: The Oregonian, November 23, 2008
“Kind of blue”
Bruce Ely, Steve Zimmerman, Mike Zacchino and Patty Reksten.
Judges’ comments: We were pleased with the risk taken to use a reproduction-unfriendly photo. It was striking and a good service to the reader to use such an attention-grabbing photo with good information.

 

Honorable mentions:

The Palm Beach Post / La Palma, October 10, 2008
“Recta final”
Mark Edelson with photos by the Associated Pres and Los Angeles Times.
Judges’ comments: Just good storytelling images and we really like the dominant photo – classic Cubs!

The Palm Beach Post, December 15, 2008
“Within their Grasp”
Ron Falch, Allen Eyestone, Chris Salata, Bruce R. Bennett and Dave Tepps.
Judges’ comments: Really great daily sports page with good use of white space to celebrate the photographs.

The St. Petersburg Times, October 7, 2008
“Soaking it up”
Stefanie Boyar, Brian Cassella and Zach Wittig.
Judges’ comments: Good marriage of headline and dominant photo.

The Oregonian, November 23, 2008
“A soaring pilot”
Jamie Francis, Steve Zimmerman, Mike Zacchino and Patty Reksten.
Judges’ comments: A celebration image played well.

MULTIPLE PAGE:

1st: The Palm Beach Post / La Palma, October - December, 2008
“A traves del lente”
Mark Edelson with the staff of La Palma and wire and staff photos.
Judges’ comments: The pages were consistently strong, energetic and had great impact. We were definitely not bored!.

2nd: The Palm Beach Post, November 30, 2008
“Season to Share”
Mark Edelson, Damon Higgins, Nicole Neal and Rebecca Vaughan.
Judges’ comments: Great storytelling through clean chapters presented with good typography and layout. A great annual project done with compassion and emotion.

3rd: The Palm Beach Post, November 16, 2008
“Historic Journey”
Mark Edelson, Mike Perkins, Greg Lovett, Pete Cross, Rick Robb and with photos by Getty Images, the Associated Press and The New York Times.
Judges’ comments: We saw a lot of campaign coverage, but this piece stood out because of a clean presentation and its celebration of photos, which included some unique cropping and good pacing.

 

Honorable Mentions:

Los Angeles Times, October 5-7, 2008
“Fateful Crossing”
Mary Cooney, Don Bartletti and Kelli Sullivan.
Judges’ comments: Strong images used in a good, storytelling layout, making effective use of emotional photos.

 

The Oregonian, October 26, 2008
“Rockville School”
Jamie Francis, Patty Reksten, Molly Swisher and Jody Stott.
Judges’ comments: A simple subject played well; good moments celebrated.

The Hawkeye, December 21, 2008
“A summer like no other”
John Gaines with staff photos.
Judges’ comments: Though the pictures were not quite as strong as those of some of the other entries, we were pleased to see a smaller paper design a comprehensive look-back at a major local event.

The Oregonian, October - December, 2008
“Pictures of the week”
Bruce Ely, Jamie Francis, Motoya Nakamura, Rob Finch, Patty Reksten, Mike Zacchino, Joel Odom and Steve Zimmerman.
Judges’ comments: Just a great celebration of photography; an outstanding showcase for staff photographers.

The Rocky Mountain News, December 24, 2008
“Pictures of the year”
Judy DeHaas with staff photographers.
Judges’ comments: Good display of great images from a strong staff.

The Rocky Mountain News, October 20-24, 2008
“The crevasse”
Dean Krakel with staff and other photos.
Judges’ comments: We thought this was a very well organized presentation of a story that was difficult to tell visually, and deserved a tip of the hat for innovation.

 

Comments? Corrections? More information? Next quarter's deadline? Contact BUP contest chair Mark Edelson at medelson@pbpost.com.

 

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