Gail tops photo competition

By DEXTER MULLINS
nabjconvention.org

Mark Gail of the Washington Post took first place in the Visual Task Force’s annual competition for his photos of immigration and state worker furlough protests. Willie J. Allen, Jr. from the St. Petersburg Times won second place for photos focused on immigration. Rochelle Riley of the Detroit Free Press also won an honorable mention for her photo on race relations.

The competition challenged photojournalists to capture the essence of San Diego, the host city of this year’s convention. It is designed to inspire the competitive and creative spirit of visual journalists. While the competition among contestants is an important part of the contest, coordinator Atoyia Deans said the main goal is to continue to offer growth opportunities for visionaries of all levels.

This year’s judges were Peggie Peattie, a photographer for the San Diego Union-Tribune; Karen Mitchell, assistant professor of convergence journalism at the University of Missouri; and Harry Walker, Photo Director at McClatchy/Tribune.

“We applaud photographers for finding not only one but two very important national new stories,” judges said of Gail’s winning photo. “We liked how he got in tight with the faces.”

(Willie J. Allen Jr.)

(Rochelle Reilly)