Judges Comments

SPNW didn't have many entries. But for those entered, the judges did have comments. Each judge has 30+ years experience and has lived and breathed spot news assignments. Times have changed and it may be spot news efforts are more challenging to access. First place really earned the award. It could almost qualify as iconic - such an in-your-face moment and highly reflective of current events. Way to get in there and up close to the action. Second place is awarded although the judges considered not awarding any further entries. Nonethless, effort was made and we offer comments rather than no awards. The tornado multiple photo entry is an important, critical news event and while judges liked a couple of the photos in particular, overall we felt that we would like to have seen the photographer work the people photos more to reflect how these people are feeling as they are surveying or cleaning up the scene. The judges felt this would have made the image collection much stronger. The collection does show the damage from the storm, though, and that is informational enough to be helpful as a visual communication that helps our readerships. Just don't be afraid to get in there and talk to people to get more into the story of the tragic circumstances. Third place we had to read the caption to understand why we were looking at this image of this face, then we could see the faint lines of tears. We don't know the issues the photographer had to deal with at the scene so there may have been barriers to get into a different position or maybe just had to act fast - but the harsh front lighting made it hard to read quickly what is going on in this photo because you can easily see the tears. The cutline explains. Fourth place (there were only four entries) the judges had a lot to say. It's a poignant moment with a tough surroundings to photograph - and it may have been so fleeting that the photographer couldn't work another angle. But the judges did feel a tighter crop even at the sacrifice of taking out the name of the building in the background would draw more attention to the comforting hand on grief-stricken person. These situations can be tough to handle - either fleeting or the photographer not wanting to appear intrusive - but we have a job to do and are supposed to be there so it's a judgment call about accessing angles that will best capture emotional faces. Hoping these comments are received as constructive feedback.