By DJ Clark
Dan Chung and I attended online roundtables with three of the WPP judges yesterday to discuss the judging process of this year’s contest and some of the issues that arose. Below is the official press release, more discussion to come soon on the blog.
The international jury of the 2nd World Press Photo Multimedia Contest has given the First Prize to the production ‘Afrikaner Blood’ by Elles van Gelderen and Ilvy Njiokiktjien from the Netherlands. The multimedia production follows young white Afrikaner teenagers in South Africa who attend a holiday camp set up to teach them self-defense and how to combat a perceived black enemy.
The prizewinning productions can also be viewed here.
The jury chair Vincent Laforet called ‘Afrikaner Blood’ “an incredibly well crafted and nuanced piece with a very cohesive structure and refined execution.” He added: “We as the jury appreciated the restraint that the authors demonstrated in the telling of this story. All of the multimedia elements and careful attention to detail served to push the narrative forward, as opposed to distracting from it.”
The judging was conducted at the World Press Photo office, where the jury viewed all the entries and discussed their merits over a period of four days. A total of 287 multimedia productions from 48 countries were entered in the contest, organized for the second time this year.
Managing director Michiel Munneke said: “This year, participation was open for photographers and producers and we are glad to have had such a broad field of entries from around the world. It is clear from the discussions with the jury that multimedia is continuously moving and developing and there are no set definitions yet. We are delighted that World Press Photo, through this contest, can contribute to the development of the medium and of the visual journalism profession.”
2012 Multimedia Contest winners
1st Prize
‘Afrikaner Blood’
By Elles van Gelder (videographer) and Ilvy Njiokiktjien (photographer), the Netherlands
2nd Prize
‘Half-Lives: The Chernobyl Workers Now’
By Maisie Crow, USA, photographer and videographer
3rd Prize
‘America’s Dead Sea’
By James Lo Scalzo, USA, photographer
Half-Lives: The Chernobyl Workers Now from VQR on Vimeo.
America’s Dead Sea from Jim Lo Scalzo on Vimeo.
Special Mention
In addition to the three prizes, the jury awarded the interactive multimedia production ‘Punched Out: The Life and Death of a Hockey Enforcer’ by The New York Times and videographer/photographers Shayla Harris and Marcus Yam with a Special Mention. Made over a period of six months, the production explores professional ice hockey player Derek Boogaard’s tumultuous life and untimely death from an accidental overdose of prescription drugs and alcohol.
Chair of the jury Vincent Laforet commented: “Several dozen videos, documents, and photographs found their way in what was a very thorough examination of the long-term health effects of bareknuckle fighting in the NHL and was delivered in a classic interface with straightforward navigation.”
Michiel Munneke explained, “Even if the contest concentrates on linear productions, we also wanted to make space for and reflect on new developments and trends and recognize excellence in the field of non-linear, interactive multimedia. For this purpose, we invited the jury members to nominate productions they felt would be interesting
2012 Multimedia Jury
Chair: Vincent Laforet, France/USA, director and photographer
– Claudine Boeglin, France, multimedia director Thomson Reuters Foundation
– Iatã Cannabrava, Brazil, photographer and director
– Jessica Dimmock, USA, documentary photojournalist
– Keith Jenkins, USA, supervising senior producer for multimedia at National Public Radio
– Wang Jingchun, China, director Visual Center of Southern Metropolis Daily
– Poul Madsen, Denmark, photojournalist and multimedia producer Bombay Flying Club
– Anna Zekria, Russia, co-founder and managing director Saltimages
Secretary: Alan Stoga, USA, president of Zemi Communications
You can find out more about the jury here.
Dr D J Clark is a leading photojournalist and educator, training students across the globe in the use of DSLR video for news reporting. He is also course leader of the new MA International Multimedia Journalism starting this year in Beijing,China run by the University of Bolton (UK). DJ has been working with World Press Photo foundation helping cover the news surrounding World Cup 2010. He also works with China Daily’s website.
