Judges Comments

Strong work and solid daily pictures made this category admirable. Lots of thoughtful pictures from Orlando shooting vigils. The winners rose to the top because of the unique approach and true news value presented. First place is a fantastic moment that tells so much about the story without needing a caption, but the caption itself was topnotch. Having a good cutline helped elevate the champaign picture above the second-place airline demonstration picture: the lack of names of the easily identifiable crew members and passenger really bummed us out and kept this picture out of first place. Third place goes to the post-Orlando shooting photo essay for its quiet and respectful moments, but a tighter edit or even just one photo may have made it stronger. (For instance, the frame of the attendee in the blue jacket with the candle overhead would be a great picture by itself.)