Judges Comments

This was by far the weakest category with the fewest number of entries. The quality was so low that it was difficult to pin down more than 2 winners. Some of the photos may have benefitted from backing off from a scene; super close shots of fires or accidents don’t always tell the story best, especially without supporting images. We understand that sometimes you are very limited with access to a scene, but a photographer can work a situation to their advantage. Again, paying attention to cropping and toning would elevate the quality of the entries. First Place: We thought this was a tight little picture package of a large fire. The additional photos help tell the story without being repetitive. We thought that the first image would have ranked first even as a stand alone. It is a good shot, and pulling away from the scene helps to establish the scale. Second Place: Decent photo of an accident scene. It tells the story in a single image and was well executed.