DESK/PHOTOGRAPHY/VIDEO/AUDIO WINNERS

Desk/Graphics
22 Best Headlines
NO AWARD GIVEN - NOT ENOUGH ENTRIES
23 Best A1
FIRST PLACE: Sheila Rowland, Desert Dispatch
“Atomic Flashback”
COMMENTS: This designer took a single, dramatic image and built a strong, meaningful page around it. The narrative comes through the visuals as well as the words.
SECOND PLACE: Evelyn Barge, Whittier Daily News“Sweet Remembrance”
COMMENTS: The compelling crop and display of the teen-ager’s close-up gives this page power. The visual clutter contributed by 8 mediocre images on the same page prevented this design from winning the category.
THIRD PLACE: Evelyn Barge, San Gabriel Valley Tribune“Abortion Views Stir GOP Debate”
COMMENTS: A good stab a conceptual packaging – if the page had more visual organization and narrative power it would have been an unqualified success
24 Best Non A-1
FIRST PLACE: Evelyn Barge, Pia Abelgas Orense, Audrey Reed, San Gabriel Valley Newspaper Group
“The Rose”
COMMENTS: This section may appear to have a built-in design advantage: magazine format, glossy cover, high quality paper. But what really makes it a winner is the consistency with which images and typography are displayed throughout. Headlines, text and listings are carefully and legibly controlled. And images – ranging from fanciful to painfully mundane are presented with consistency and organization.
25 Best News Graphic
FIRST PLACE: Chris Ramos, The Press-Enterprise
“Cleaning up coal”
COMMENTS: Excellent 3-D drawing, easy to follow flow of information.
26 Best Illustration/Drawing
FIRST PLACE: Maggie Delbon, The Press-Enterprise
“Royal Pain for Parents”
COMMENTS: Nice drawing style and strong concept.

PHOTOGRAPHY
27 Best Spot News photo
FIRST PLACE: Paul Gallaher, Valley News
“Back Fire”
COMMENTS: Silhouetting firefighters against a big blaze not only gives the viewer a sense of the scale of the fire, it also frames the photo and lends it a human perspective.
28 Best News photo
FIRST PLACE: Therese Tran, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
“GTA Apprehension”
COMMENTS: Capturing an arrest in progress is difficult enough, but doing so from the same level as the suspect puts the viewer into the photo. Excellent work.
SECOND PLACE: Paul Gallaher, Valley News
“Graduation Flip”
COMMENTS: Not your average graduation photo. It couldn’t have been easy to freeze-frame this with no warning.
29 Best Feature photo
NO WINNERS AWARDED
30 Best Portrait/Personality photo
FIRST PLACE: Rodrigo Peña, The Press-Enterpise
“Broken Hearted”
COMMENTS: While the composition could benefit from a tighter crop, this is a telling portrait with compelling information in the background and perfect lighting.
SECOND PLACE: John Gilhooley, OC Weekly
“Ronny”
COMMENTS: While it obviously benefits from being played as a tabloid cover, the shot itself is still compelling. The beads of sweat are clearly focused, but more importantly, the expectation of seeing a tough boxer in wrapped fists is turned around by the almost-scared look on his face.
31 Best Sports photo
FIRST PLACE: Jenny Kirchner, Idyllwild Town Crier
“Bendin’ Like Beckham”
COMMENTS: Not your tradition sports photo winner. Sure, kids are a sucker’s way to win a photo contest, but in this case, Kirchner not only caught a bunch of cute youngsters and a soccer ball, she also highlights one of the amusements of youth soccer – namely, everyone goes for the ball.
SECOND PLACE: Therese Tran, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
“Football Bobble”
COMMENTS: Shooting high school football is always tough: poor lighting betrays many a good image, and it often prevents capturing faces through the helmets. Even so. Tran gets a fine action shot under adverse conditions.
THIRD PLACE: Rodrigo Peña, The Press-Enterprise
“Baseball Dive”
COMMENTS: A great action moment, but a tad blurry.
32 Best Photo Gallery
FIRST PLACE: Paul Gallaher, Valley News
“Grape Harvest”
COMMENTS: Photo essays need to tell a story, not only feature excellent images. Harvest doesn’t require reading the cutlines to know what’s going on.
SECOND PLACE: Michael Stenerson, Daily Press
“Here Come the Mavericks”
COMMENTS: Up close and far away, from the field to the fans, Stenerson visually tells the story of a minor-league team.
THIRD PLACE: Michael Stenerson, Daily Press
“A Taste of Italy”
COMMENTS: Great images, but it would have meant more to have such quality work be local.
33 Best Photo Illustration
NO ENTRIES

VIDEO
V1 Best Breaking News Story
NO ENTRIES
V2 Best News Story
FIRST PLACE: Patrick O’Neil, The Press-Enterprise
“Extreme 04”SECOND PLACE: Aaron Aupperlee, The Desert Dispatch
“Route 66 Car Show”
V3-4 Best Feature/Sports Story
FIRST PLACE: Leo Greene and Mediha DiMartino, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
“Spirituality”
SECOND PLACE: Leo Greene and Jeff Malet, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
“Coping with a terminal illness”

Audio - Includes Podcasts and Radio productions
A1 Best News Reporting
FIRST PLACE: Jim Ness and Julie Estrada, Inland Empire News Radio
“October 2007 Wildfires Newscast - Number 4”
Comments: Great use of sound in this newscast, especially the cut with a fire official from a fire camp talking about how firefighters have to "suck it up" and keep going in the face of sometimes deadly circumstances. Good placement of sidebar story of how wildfires impacted tree planting event.
SECOND PLACE: Jim Ness, Inland Empire News Radio
“October 2007 Wildfires Newscast Number 2”
COMMENTS: Strong writing in this newscast: "whipping winds" and firefighters "conceding defeat."
THIRD PLACE: Jim Ness, Inland Empire News Radio
“October 2007 Wildfires Newscast Number 3”
COMMENTS: Good cuts from Red Cross and prosecutor vowing to go after "firebugs."