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Bay Saint Louis Mississippi

NPPA: Best of Photojournalism 2008 Web Site Winners

1st Place, News Photo Gallery: “The Gulf Coast’s Struggle Back” (msnbc.com); Citizen photojournalist John Wilkerson photographed the notable buildings in his hometown of Bay St. Louis in the hours before Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005. Roll over the images to take a look at how the locations are evolving over time.

We came to the conclusion that the interface and concept brought the MSNBC piece to the top. We'd like there to be more innovative thought in the presentation of galleries beyond the traditional forward/back buttons. We can see news organizations taking cues from this project for years to come.
We thought there were opportunities to take the layers of content beyond the images presented with more of drill down -- maybe google mapping and more stories within, but our hopes are this will make people think about going the distance with storytelling using galleries and the web.
The Providence Journal gallery definitely had the best "photojournalism" though -- very nice in form with very good sequencing. The Dallas Morning News piece took the viewer into the piece; it was very emotional and had an established beginning middle and end.
Seth Gitner

NPPA: Best of Photojournalism 2008 Web Site Winners

1st Place, Best Picture Gallery: “The Gulf Coast’s Struggle Back” (msnbc.com); Citizen photojournalist John Wilkerson photographed the notable buildings in his hometown of Bay St. Louis in the hours before Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005. Roll over the images to take a look at how the locations are evolving over time.

It was a real challenge for us to make this decision. We went back and forth on 3 very different galleries. In the end, we had to return to the point system to help us make our decision. We awarded the MSNBC gallery Best Picture Gallery in the end because it was innovative and it told a strong story in a very direct and user-friendly way and its design was quite simple and strong.
We are well aware that the photos themselves are not what one would consider brilliant photojournalism. But the entire package was very powerful. And it told a powerful story--After all this time, very little was done. It was told in a very dispassionate way, which was its strength.
We also really liked Dress for Success. The idea itself was very smart, the photography was really well done and the design was clean and user friendly. It was a very different way of covering Signing Day.
Our third contender was Roanoke's gallery on Virginia Tech. The photos were strong, and mostly well-edited. We had a few issues with the choice of photos at the end, however.
Thea Breite