National – October 2017 – Portrait/Illustration

Judges Comments

All of our winning selections succeeded as simply great portraits of interesting people or an important story, and all used the right technique and approach for the story at hand.The first place picture is an intimate, storytelling portrait through and through, showing thoughtfulness by the photographer not only in its composition but also in the unguarded moment. An excellent caption sells it and provides an important side to the story. Second place is a thoughtful contextual portrait that evoked more emotion from each of us, for which the photographer should be commended. The second­ place picture also made us want to see the rest of the story from which it came (that’s a good thing). The third place entry does a good job getting to the essence of the subject’s true character: it’s a clean image with fantastic texture and color, with a nice expression, too.

Judges: Andy Colwell/Freelance, Pat Traylor/The Denver Post, Kenzie Bruce/Westword Magazine