Quarter Two, 2017 – Digital Single Story

Judges Comments

First Place: -Clear winner. Kate: This is strikingly simplistic, the stark fact of the story beautifully told in the single frame, the reality of the problem impossible to ignore as the frame is filled with faces.  Brent: This is one of those pictures that tell the story in a single frame. I feel overwhelmed, but I also get sucked into breaking past that and reading each face for their piece of the story. On top of that graphically, it is great. Lance: Bit different. You rarely see inside a bunk. Lots of different face of joy and grief that lead your eye around the frame. Well composed and clean. Powerful. Second Place: Brent was the biggest fan of this entry. Kate: The moodiness of this frame speaks to the continued uneasiness that most humans have around our robotic future.  Brent: I really got caught by this picture. The lighting is solid and it’s so many aspects and questions that I have in this frame that if you want to cut through the noise on the web and take a moment, this is the photo that would make you do it. Lance: You know what, it is just weird. I like it because it is bizarre and well lit. Makes me want to read the story. You bought my click. Third Place: Kate: The circus of our political climate, and the fact that these first turbulent months are history-making, is acknowledged in the dark humor of this frame - press and etc. watching Comey, Comey watching something off frame, as though unsure of how we got here, or how we will fare getting out.  Brent: It’s so much going on in that frame, while Comey just feels like he is trying to escape the glare or wants to push attention to elsewhere. Lance: It is a good choice for the package, but perhaps a bit too obvious?

Judges: Lance Booth/The New York Times, Kate Bubacz/Buzzfeed, Brent Lewis/The Undefeated