FEBRUARY NJPPA CLIP RESULTS

This Contest was judged by: Sam Morris, Steve Marcus, Tiffany Brown and Richard Brian of the Las Vegas Sun

News
1st Peter Monsees, The Record, Salvaging Memories
2nd Peter Monsees, The Record, Mets Jersey
3rd Tyson Trish, The Record, Glen Rock Memorial

Comments: Nice look of exasperation on the woman burned out of her house coupled with a sense of place.

Feature Single
1st Thomas Franklin, The Record, The Rink
2nd Kevin Wexler, Herald News, Taking the Plunge
3rd Jennifer Brown, The Star-Ledger, Valentine’s Day Mess

Comments: First place was a nice moment, a little more context would have helped. Second place you could feel the chill and third was a nice find for a weather feature with the added benefit of being topical.

Sports
1st Tyson Trish, The Record, Bergen Champs
2nd Tyson Trish, The Record, Hockey Check
3rd Bryan Littel, The Bridgeton News, Wrestling

Comments: Nice jube on the winner with students and players meeting at a peak. Second was a good reaction on a check and third place had nice dramatic lighting but needed some breathing room on the sides and better exposure on the coach.

Portrait
1st Thomas Franklin, The Record, Winter Formal
2nd Peters Monsees, The Record, Ice Damage
3rd Ed Murray, The Star-Ledger, Johnson Basketball

Comments: Overall a weak category. First place captured a nice moment between the kids and second place was helped by the contrasting colors of the shattered glass and vest. Third was an okay group portrait but we need to know why they are in a restaurant to give it some meaning.

Feature Multiple
1st Tony Kurdzuk, The Star-Ledger, Ancient Artifacts
2nd Elizabeth Lara, Herald News, Teacher’s Disability
3rd Leslie Barbaro, Herald News, Cheerleaders

Comments: First place did a nice job with a potentially horrible assignment, good variety of shots. Second was nice but it would have been better to have some more interation. Third had a lot of the same photo. Both second and third could have been helped by varying the subject to camera distance and having more variety, tight medium and wide shots.

January 2007 Clip Results

This Contest was judged by: The Charlotte News and Observer

News
1st Noah Murray, The Star-Ledger, After-School Horror
2nd Jose Moreno, Courier-Post, Candlelight Vigil
3rd Tariq Zehawi, The Record, Eaton Sentencing
HM Noah Murray, The Star-Ledger, Afternoon Tragedy

Comments: First Place: The individual faces bring it all together with strong emotions. Clear winner. Second Place: Composed well. Great moment of static event. All the elements of candlelight vigil with the added moment of emotion. Third Place: Best face of all pics, but photog knew where to look taking away from spontaneity. HM: Good information in pic. It would have placed higher if cropped left student out, came up at bottom.

Feature Single
1st Jennifer Brown, The Star-Ledger, Fog over the Hudson
2nd Michael Karas, Herald News, Animal for Eid ul-Adah Holiday
3rd John Munson, The Star-Ledger, Hellrazors

Comments: First Place: Nice serendipity. Clouds dip at right moment for umbrella to peak interest. Photog did not over dodge and all the elements came together for a timeless photo. Second Place: Painterly. It draws you into the moment, yet I am taken away to the old world. I see energy but the moment is still. The photog thought about composition. Third Place: I feel like I am there in the moment. Lit very well!

Sports
1st Jeff Granit, Tri-Town News, Wrestling Jubo
2nd Frank Wojciechowski, Princeton Packet, Wrestling
3rd Michael Karas, Herald News, Basketball

Comments: First Place: It is a peak moment of victory that is lit well. Second Place: Great expression. Wish the crop was tighter on the left. Third Place: Clean, peak action that was cropped/framed well.

Portrait
1st Mitsu Yasukawa, The Star-Ledger, Thinking Big
2nd Tom Franklin, The Record, The Proud Paparazzo
3rd None Awarded

Comments: First Place: We could not find something wrong. Enough said. Nice location shooting. Second Place: So close! Should have cropped top down to top of color “photo.” A lower cleaner crop would have won. We love the composition and concept. Third Place: NA

Feature Multiple
1st Ed Murray, The Star-Ledger, Jersey Band
2nd Amy Newman, Herald News, Blind Wrestler
3rd Leslie Barbaro, Herald News, Funeral

Comments: First Place: Looks like the photog enjoyed this shoot. Nice variation of moments, places, emotion. Good, different story. Second Place: Repetitive photos/edit. Needs better cropping. Nice moments, and we like that you followed the subject but need to edit. Third Place: Strong individual photos. Great daily work, but does not rise to the level of story telling.