The judges all agreed that despite out desire not to sound like a broken record, we cannot in good conscience not point out that good editing can be what makes the difference between a first and second place award, and the difference between engaging and boring an audience. We concede that the true photo story is largely a lost art, not because there are no longer photojournalist who can do it well but because there are so few outlets that value that kind of work enough to give it time and space. First place goes to the food illustration essay, which just as easily could have been first in the portrait/illustration category. With the exception of the brown bread photo, which lacked the contrast and color of the other images in the set, the judges were universally pleased with the color, texture, light, and composition of the photos in this essay. In second place the judges were pretty strong in the opinion that there were at the most five images that told the story, and really could have even cut it to four. Maybe as a multiple in general news this would have done well also. On the strength of those four or five we decided the entry deserved a second place award. There was only one other entry in the category but the judges found the collection of images lacked any real storytelling aspect and the technical execution was particularly weak. One poorly exposed, weakly composed image does indeed just get ignored in the single photo categories, but in this category a collection of such photos really demands critique.
Judges:
Sean D. Elliot/The Day, Peter Huoppi/The Day, Dana Jensen/The Day
Judges Comments
The judges all agreed that despite out desire not to sound like a broken record, we cannot in good conscience not point out that good editing can be what makes the difference between a first and second place award, and the difference between engaging and boring an audience. We concede that the true photo story is largely a lost art, not because there are no longer photojournalist who can do it well but because there are so few outlets that value that kind of work enough to give it time and space. First place goes to the food illustration essay, which just as easily could have been first in the portrait/illustration category. With the exception of the brown bread photo, which lacked the contrast and color of the other images in the set, the judges were universally pleased with the color, texture, light, and composition of the photos in this essay. In second place the judges were pretty strong in the opinion that there were at the most five images that told the story, and really could have even cut it to four. Maybe as a multiple in general news this would have done well also. On the strength of those four or five we decided the entry deserved a second place award. There was only one other entry in the category but the judges found the collection of images lacked any real storytelling aspect and the technical execution was particularly weak. One poorly exposed, weakly composed image does indeed just get ignored in the single photo categories, but in this category a collection of such photos really demands critique.