South – January 2024 – Photo Story/Essay

Judges Comments

This was an unusually strong story category with a lot of great entries. We thought that the first story rose to the top with great moments and a strong narrative arc. Second place showed good access and created a nice sense of the event and what's a stake for the participants. Third place was really well edited with no unnecessary or repetitive images. Nice moments with great captions. The honorable mention was a unique story idea about the bats, but needed a much stronger edit.

Judges: Chris Day/The Commercial Appeal, Billy Schuerman/The Virginian Pilot