Winners through August, including Sept. entry points

1	Denny Simmons	Courier and Press	559
2	Rob Goebel	Indianapolis Star	539
3	Matt Detrich	Indianapolis Star	477
4	Justin Rumbach	The Herald-Jasper	457
5	Joe Garza	Tribune Star	384
6	AJ Mast	Freelance	290
7	Natalie Battaglia	The Times of Northwest Ind.	244
8	Charlie Nye	Indianapolis Star	238
9	John Terhune	Journal and Courier	224
9	Jon L. Hendricks	The Times of Northwest Ind.	224
11	Jeri Reichanadter	Indianapolis Star	208
12	Chris Howell	Herald-Times	206

Cream of the Crop, 1st Place Features

| Click to open winners gallery |Judges
Billings Gazette judges:
Casey Riffe, Larry Mayer, David Grubbs, James WoodcockF-Feature
Cream of the Crop
1st: Matt Detrich/The Indianapolis St
F_MLDI_02
Beautiful frame with nice graphic elements. It stands out among all the images.

2nd: Denny Simmons
f_dlse_02
Great expression and a nice clean composition.

3rd: Charlie Nye
F_CENI_04
A nice moment with good body language that adds an intimacy to the frame.

HM: Steve Sanchez
F_SMSI_03
Nice light and composition. Figure in foreground is slightly distracting.

GN-General_News

1st: Jon L. Hendricks/The Times
GN_JLHM_04
Great storytelling moment with human interest that brings it to life.

2nd: Matt Detrich/The Indianapolis St
GN_MLDI_03
Great use of motion and light in a tough shooting scenario.

3rd: Matt Detrich/The Indianapolis St
GN_MLDI_01
A good emotional moment that captures the mood of the event.

S-Sports

1st: Rob Goebel
S_rkgi_02
Nice clean composition and a great facial expression.

2nd: Don Knight
S_DWKA_02
Great shot with peak action despite the head out of the frame.

3rd: AJ Mast, Freelance
S_ajmi_10
Great moment in a chaotic scene.

SN-Spot_News

1st: Natalie Battaglia/The Times
SN_NLBM_01
The clear standout in the category. Beautiful light and a storytelling image.

2nd: John Terhune, Journal & Courier
sn_jrtl_01
Good body language among the wreckage tells the story. A nice quiet moment.

3rd: Bob Gwaltney, The Evansville Courier & Press
SN_RMGE_02
Unusual image from an accident scene.

Multi
1st: Matt Detrich/The Indianapolis St
Ma_MLDI_01
The clear standout of the category. A strong variety of images that tell the story of the camp and the kids.

x-Ma_rkgi

2nd: Rob Goebel
Ma_rkgi_01
A good group of images and a fun story idea. Nice photos in a tough shooting environment.

x-mb_ceni

3rd: Charlie Nye
Mb_CENI_01
A unique story idea with a variety of images.

Anyone who placed, through July results, including Aug. and Sept. entry points.

1	Denny Simmons	Courier and Press	519
2	Justin Rumbach	The Herald-Jasper	457
3	Rob Goebel	Indianapolis Star	449
4	Joe Garza	Tribune Star	384
5	Matt Detrich	Indianapolis Star	306
6	AJ Mast	Freelance	260
7	Jeri Reichanadter	Indianapolis Star	208
8	Chris Howell	Herald-Times	206
9	Natalie Battaglia	The Times of Northwest Ind.	194
10	John Terhune	Journal and Courier	184
11	Charlie Nye	Indianapolis Star	178
12	Jon L. Hendricks	The Times of Northwest Ind.	174
13	Jim Rider	South Bend Tribune	152
14	Bob Gwaltney	Courier and Press	110
15	Joe Vitti	Indianapolis Star	109
16	Don Knight	Herald Bulletin	102
16	Stephanie Dowell	Post-Tribune	102
18	Jeremy Hogan	Herald-Times	96
19	Heather Charles	Indianapolis Star	92
20	Rodney Margison	Brown County Democrat	88
21	Melanie Maxwell	Star Press	86
22	Garet Cobb	Times-Mail	76
22	Pete Schreiner	Times-Mail	76
24	Ellie Bogue	News-Sentinel	72
25	Erin McCraken	Courier and Press	68
26	Steve Sanchez	Noblesville Ledger	54
27	Kelly Wilkinson	Indianapolis Star	53
28	David Snodgress	Herald-Times	12
28	Mike Dickbernd	The Republic	12

Judges: Andrew P. Scott and Sean Dougherty, USA TODAY

The top pieces stood out and rose to the top very quickly as they all shared several common traits: strong visuals, clear audio, good storytelling techniques in both the audio and visual tracks worked together to tell a complete story. Even so, each of the winning pieces should have been edited tighter, both visually and with the audio to give them stronger impact.

Lots of the entered pieces suffered on many levels. Poor technical audio quality or poor storytelling hurt several pieces that had otherwise had reasonable visuals. Poor opening visuals will immediately submarine viewers, and poor audio will do the same in short order. Many pieces as presented were far, far too long. This reflects poor editing and storytelling, and ultimately, a lack of respect for a potential viewer’s time. Sixty seconds is a long time if you are not presenting potential viewers strong visuals or compelling audio. Over two minutes without a storyline or strong visuals or audio is painful as a viewer. Several pieces were well over three minutes, which is excruciating when the piece does not have a story to tell and also has marginal visuals and/or audio.

In almost all cases, shorter is better. Editing your audio and visuals tightly will help tell your story effectively. If you are not getting the viewer’s attention with impacting visuals and interesting audio in the first 15-20 seconds, you won’t keep them as a viewer through the whole piece.

A couple entries would not play at all, despite trying several different browsers and platforms.

1st
Christopher Smith NW Times.com
Organ Session Skating
nwi.com/tabs/multimedia/glenwoodskate.mov
Seniors skate to organ music at the Glenwood Roller Rink in Glenwood Illinois.

Good audio, well composed visuals, and a well thought-out story line that was engaging through the whole piece made this a winner. It’s a simple story, but it is presented in a fun way and is generally engaging for the viewer. Good use of subject narration to tell story interspersed with strong visuals keep this piece interesting. Several of the visual scenes and techniques repeated throughout the piece and could have been edited down tighter to make the overall more effective.

2nd
Chris Howell, Bloomington HT
Starlite Drive-In Theatre
garfield.heraldtimesonline.com/ss/starlite/
Profile of local Starlite Drive-In Theatre that still offers that old-fashioned family atmosphere.

A little slow getting into the story, but interesting audio approaches with strong visuals hold the viewer until the storyline fully develops. Good job thinking about where to gather strong audio, not merely gathering audio where you happened to be shooting pictures. Again, like the first piece, this could be edited a little tighter to make it a stronger piece.

3rd
Christopher Smith NW Times.com
Fight Night
nwi.com/tabs/multimedia/fightnight.mov
Students at Mt. Carmel High School in Chicago square off in the ring for the school title

Excellent job following story from beginning to end, searching for behind the scenes visuals, in the ring, and overalls. Again, good audio and good story line help this one stand out. Good use of varied subject narration to tell the story. Tighter editing could have helped.

All Enrties for Second Quarter 2007

Name: Steve Linsenmayer
Organization: The News-Sentinel

Capt. Crosby, home at last.

http://jordan.fortwayne.com/ns/photo/potholes/index.php

Missing in action for almost 4 decades, Vietnam chopper pilot Herb Crosby is laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery

Name: Ellie Bogue
Organization: The News-Sentinel

Giving Shelter

http://jordan.fortwayne.com/ns/photo/petshelter/

Day in the life of an Allen County Animal Control worker.

Laid to Rest

http://jordan.fortwayne.com/ns/photo/hartge_funeral/

The funeral of a Kendallville soilder killed in Iraq

Name: Natalie Battaglia
Organization: The Times of Northwest Indiana

Immigration March

http://nwi.com/tabs/multimedia/050107nbIMMIGRATION/

Immigration March in Chicago

Chalupa

http://nwi.com/tabs/multimedia/050507nbCHALUPA-Web%20Movie.mov

Hundreds of Chihuahuas race to be the fastest in the nation.

Name: Christopher Smith
Organization: The Times of Northwest Indiana

Organ Session Skating

http://nwi.com/tabs/multimedia/glenwoodskate.mov

Seniors skate to organ music at the Glenwood Roller Rink in Glenwood Illinois

Fight Night

http://nwi.com/tabs/multimedia/fightnight.mov

Students at Mt. Carmel High School in Chicago square off in the ring for the school title

Railcats Tryouts

http://nwi.com/tabs/multimedia/railcats.mov

Players vie for spot on the Gary Southshore Railcats minor league baseball team

Name: Chris Howell
Organization: The Herald Times

Fig Tree Coffe Bar

http://garfield.heraldtimesonline.com/ss/figgtree/

Audio slideshow on a small coffee bar in the tiny town of Helmsburg.

Tom Ludwig, Lawn Mower Repair

http://garfield.heraldtimesonline.com/ss/mower/

Tom Ludwig repairs and refurbishes broken down lawn mowers for extra money in his retierment.

Starlite Drive-In Theatre

http://garfield.heraldtimesonline.com/ss/starlite/

Profile of local Starlite Drive-In Theatre that still offers that old-fashioned family atmosphere.

Name: Matt Detrich
Organization: The Indianapolis Star

500 Festival Parade

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070526/VIDEO01/305270006

Yearly parade that kicks off the month of May that leads up to the prestigious Indianapolis 500

Test of Attack Responses

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070511/VIDEO01/305110001

Emergency disaster response training for emergency personel from across the state of Indiana

Name: Don Knight
Organization: The Herald Bulletin

Best and brightest

http://www.theheraldbulletin.com/multimedia/local_story_107145134.html

Anderson’s top African American students earned the privilege of being debuted during the city’s annual Debutante Cotillion/Beautillion Militaire at the Paramount Theatre Centre’s Hardacre Ballroom.