Place Name: First Place Contestant Name: News Graphic Entry Title: Sept. 20, 2022; Dec. 1, 2022; April 18, 2023 Entry Credit: Mark Justesen Judge Comment: The undeniable highlight of this newspaper is found on its sports pages where photographer Mark Justesen’s talent shines. Well-composed images taken at peak moments are a delight for readers and likely adorn refrigerator doors across the county. The six-column hurdle jumper was among the judge’s favorites and the page layout would have benefited from being only such sized image on the page with a cropped version of the top photo. More is not always better and that was the case with “Christmas comes to Cedarburg.” The secondary photo of awestruck children was one of the photographer’s best images in the package and should have been the dominant photo. One image with Santa is sufficient. Front page feature packages “Dog days of spring” and “A taste of autumn” seemed rushed. Wished the photographer had taken more time to capture what made these events special.
Place Name: Second Place Contestant Name: Vilas County News-Review Entry Title: All-Around Photography Entry Credit: Staff Judge Comment: Good selection of general news, society and sports photography. Layouts are attractive and showcase images well.
Place Name: Third Place Contestant Name: The Press Times Entry Title: The Press Times - All-Around Newspaper Photography Entry Credit: Press Times Staff Judge Comment: Sports pages are the best in show in this newspaper in both the image selection and design. Are there two separate people laying out the news and sports sections? There's a noticeable difference in philosophy.
Competition Comment: Photographers in this category are capable of capturing well-composed, technically sound, journalist images but in many cases, the page designs are not kind. This division showed too many pages with similar photos, shot from the same POV, cropped the same, and given the same weight on the page. Good photo packages need a hierarchy and usually include a scene setter, a close-up of the subject, and details to tell the story. Be encouraged to take a variety of images from telephotos to wide shots. Shoot standing on a chair and from a squatting position. Then find good photo page examples to inspire the page designer.
