Multimedia exchange

Only last month did I discover that the National Press Photographers Association has a multimedia counterpart to its Monthly Newspaper Clip Contest. I do read the NPPA monthly magazine, but somehow I either missed the announcement of the new contest or simply wasn't interested in multimedia enough a year ago to take notice. I'm fairly certain of the reaction most of my colleagues had at the time, though: "Great. Just what our profession needs. Another contest."

We do need this contest, because it can help establish the standards for what our profession is becoming. The NPPA Multimedia Contest consolidates the most current multimedia examples contributed by NPPA members and opens the monthly judging to the entire membership. Over the past year, NPPA's new contest program has accumulated three dozen examples of good multimedia journalism in each of its five categories. This is a valuable resource for those of us just learning the ways of multimedia production.

In an era of inter-connectivity, however, I think the website for this program needs one logical development to make it an even more valuable exchange of ideas among NPPA members about what makes good multimedia. By enabling NPPA members to post comments on individual entries, the program could establish both peer-based feedback on the work of contest entrants from one month to the next, as well as an example-based discussion of what constitutes "good work." This could take the form of a provision for comments attached to each entry on the contest website or perhaps adding another NPPA forum discussion group devoted to exchanging critiques and opinions on current contest entries and winners.

In order for a contest to be educational, it is not enough simply to see what is considered the best by those doing the judging, but to understand why.

In that spirit, I'll declare my own choices among the current "November" entries (actually October productions entered in November competition) for the one category in the Multimedia Contest that I can enter: Individual Audio Slideshow.

First Place: "Jehovah's Witnesses Rebuild in 4 Days" by Kerry Maloney of the Idaho Statesman. This production could serve as an archetype for good multimedia journalism. Maloney's audio delivers a clear telling of a remarkable story about a religious community that normally doesn't even like to be photographed. His visuals support the audio story, but not in a lock-step, obvious manner. He even makes a nice, appropriate use of flipbook action, but uses no pointless pans or zooms. At the end, I am awed by the industry of this church community and understand their faith a little better.

Second Place: "Down to the Corps" by Bradly J. Boner of the Jackson Hole News. You gotta admire the photographer who can bring fresh treatment to a threadbare subject. How many times have we seen the basic training story? And yet, by seeing the experience through a letter written to a recruit's father, a trite subject is transformed into a story about a relationship. The images are all spot-on and coordinated with a near professional reading of the letter by the father. His laconic tone reflects humor and pride. Even after viewing this production several times, I have to shake my head over the sheer logistics involved: travel between Jackson Hole and San Diego, time spent covering the camp, acquisition of the letter and arrangement for the father to read it aloud, and the anticipation of visual points made in that letter. Wonderful work!

Third Place: "A Yankees fan in Red Sox nation" by Mike Dean of the Gloucester Daily Times. Oddly, one of the attributes of this production that appealed to me is its brevity – less than 90 seconds. Dean doesn't belabor his subject. He introduces an irrepressible, though displaced, Yankees fan, establishes his mission in life and takes us through his skirmishes, concluding with an excellent closing image.

All 52 entries for November will be posted on the contest website and can be viewed until Dec. 1. After that, only the three selections for first, second and third will be available. In the interest of full disclosure, I entered "Chalk" but in my own estimation, it ranks somewhere in the middle of the pack.