Judges Comments

First place: This image provides a unique view of a still-active scene that would otherwise be inaccessible. It was a clear winner in the category. Second place: What elevated this image was focusing on capturing the human emotion, rather than just the scene. Category notes: A normally light section, there were more submissions in this category than we usually see. However, we stuck with choosing just two finalists, as they stood out as really telling the story of spot news in a clear and concise way. When we ask ourselves if we understood the scene from the imagery provided, these two stood out. They clearly communicated what was going on in a very quick way. Other entries: pay attention to focus points, composition, balance and consider what the visuals are for some very difficult topics. Maybe there is something else that we can see that would show the topic even better. Keep submitting! It was great to see more entries in this category and we hope our photojournalists continue to challenge themselves to make great imagery even with difficult topics.