Central – March 2019 – Sports Feature

Judges Comments

There were so many celebration pictures in this category that they all started to look the same. They were all exciting, but none really stood out. It diluted our emotions when we studied the submissions and made us contemplate looking for feature pictures that were off the court. Here's the winners: A wrestler who flips for joy was the clear favorite. We were amazed that the photographer was able to shoot something so fast, and so clean without warning. Second place: We've all tried to get teams in mid huddle getting fired-up for a game, but never got one as good as this. Natural framing, great composition. Taking the reader closer than they could ever get is our job and it is difficult most times, but not in this case. And we praised the third place photographer for getting off the court and exploring the back hallways. We've never seen an assignment that states, "Photographer must stay in gym." Unless the NCAA staff is making you sit on your mark, get up and move about. This category was extremely hard to judge since it was filled with so much talent. All of you should be proud of your work.

Judges: Robert Kirkham/The Buffalo News, Cathaleen Curtiss/The Buffalo News, Derek Gee/The Buffalo News