BY KEVIN DU
THE UNITY NEWS

There’s an old saying: a picture is worth a thousand words. However, during the 2008 UNITY Photo and Multimedia ShootOut, not only are they worth a lot more, the meanings behind them are just as heavy.

Being the first ever converged shootout, both still photographers and multimedia producers had a chance to flex their photojournalism muscles in this year’s theme; Diversity in Chicago.

The prize money was massive this year with the amount being estimated to be more than $6,000.

Photography ShootOut Chair Milbert Brown, who has won this competition for NABJ 5 times, chose this year’s photo assignment. Each participant had to go into the city of Chicago and shoot a different diverse group other than themselves. This theme gave participants a chance to experience a different culture.

From families, barbershops, violence and even feet; these were just some of the subjects that were shot and submitted. With shots ranging from indoors to out, night and day, they all gave the judges and the crowd a diverse layout of Chicago and the people who inhabit the city.

The judging began at 1:30 p.m. with judges consisting of photographers and photo editors. Both the panel and audience screened all of the entries, first the still photos and later the multimedia productions.

The still judges included Philadelphia Enquirer’s Hai Do, Michael DuCille of the Washington Post, Santiago Lyon of the Associated Press, Jose Osorio of the Chicago Tribune and Arizona Republic’s Nick Oza.

Accompanying Do and Lyon in the multimedia judging was Ben De La Cruz of the Washington Post, St. Petersburg Times’ Boyzell Hosey and Dai Sugano of the San Jose Mercury News.

After each entry was viewed, the judges slowly narrowed down their favorites, critiquing each one. They looked for good composition, actions within the picture, if it followed the assigned theme and of course, the picture’s caption.

The elimination process consisted of an “in” or “out” answer from the judges. The entries were finally narrowed down to first and second place. Taking their time, viewing each entry repeatedly, checking every detail and reading each caption carefully, the judges made their decisions.

For the still photography portion of the contest, first place went to freelance photographer Ariel Zambelich for her shots of a Chicago barbershop. She won a Canon 40D camera set, $500 from the NABJ Visual Task Force, Quark Xpress software and a Canon camera bag.

Second place went to The Oakland Tribune’s Ray Chavez, who won a Canon G9 camera, a Canon camera bag, $250 and a Sandisk 8GH card. Third place went to David Trotman Wilkins of the Chicago Tribune. Honorable mentions went to Michelle Le, a student from San Francisco State University and University of Central Florida student Marie D. Dejesus.

In the multimedia portion of the contest, the first place winner was Adam Sings In The Timber of the University of Montana. Adam’s subject of choice, “Street Violence”, won him a Canon HD30 video camera, $500 and accessories. Second place winner Heather Charles won a Canon G9 camera, $250 and a Canon camera bag.

With Eric Shelton from Southern Mississippi University coming in third, the group of winners was completed with honorable mentions for Roxana Vasquez of the University of Arizona and San Francisco State’s Michelle Le.

The judges were impressed with the entries that were submitted and the effort the photojournalists and multimedia producers put in. They look forward to seeing how this industry will evolve in the future.

To view the first place winners for both the still and multimedia competitions, click on the links below.

Still photography first place winner
Multimedia first place winner

topic: uncategorized
tags: photo, VTF

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