POYi

While watching POYi this year I had a completely new experience compared to previous years. The Judges critiquing multimedia portfolio section came from a more diverse background than I have seen before, which so we heard from a new perspective.

The judges were: Mike Zerby from the University of Minnesota; Drea Cooper, filmmaker and commercial director; Meg Theno from the Chicago Tribune; and Kim Grinfeder from the University of Miami.

Drea Cooper spoke his mind and offered a unique perspective that stood out and gave a new flavor to the judging. In the beginning of the event they were rating the portfolios based on the difficultly of the work presented inside. They kept going back to a few pieces looking at how they had differed and what made them special.

Cooper had said, “The most difficult element to master is capturing a close personal story while working in our field.”

This outlook made Cooper ranking many of the stories different from most of the other judges, and they debated placing the final three projects.

Another very interesting point in the debate came when Zerby added that you don’t always have to follow the rules. One piece didn’t have a strong subject to hold it together. It jumped around showing different elements from the event and he said, “It just had a lot of good moments strung together to evoke a strong emotion.” The other judges recognized what he had said, and they awarded the piece an Award of Excellence.

We had discussed breaking the rules in class, but it was great to see the judges in POYi awarding those projects that decided to venture outside the norm.

One piece about Haiti had many different stories about Haiti and the judges awarded the project for looking at the entire area and they really dived deeply into the culture of country and told the viewed more than the effects of the earthquake.

This piece was viewed very highly by the judges, but they ended up pushing down in the awards based on the lack of total diversity.

I believe that the Judges did an excellent job looking into each piece and viewing the work in its entirety. In the end I did agree with most of the decisions made by the judges. I love multimedia and seeing some of those projects really showed me the work you can do through multimedia.

The Los Angeles Times had a strong variety with excellent multimedia pieces that pulled it up the ranks. It stood out above the rest for the time and dedication they put into their stories. They had some incredible work that blew me away.

I feel that the judging this year has been more balanced and I agree with more of the decisions made this year compared to previous years.

-Daniel Longar