Place Name: First Place Contestant Name: Culpeper Times Entry Title: Culpeper Times Slideshow Entry Credit: Maria Basileo, William Oakes, Emily Cullen, James Baldwin, Andrew Farewell Judge Comment: The intrepid photographers here produce a huge number of images for this paper’s many galleries. The readers must love their photos because this paper serves them up! From a rodeo to a cemetery and other community events, the photos clearly show residents involved in the action and support of each other. It is quite a task to produce this many images from some of these events, which allows the viewer the opportunity to see just how hard these photographers work to document this town. The rodeo gallery stands out as it is not only full of action, but shows life around the arena all during different lighting. The same goes for the roller rink. However, the cemetery is a completely different challenge as there was no action and the prospects for great photography may have been low. The photographer used many aesthetic solutions to make some surprisingly interesting photos.
Place Name: Second Place Contestant Name: Rappahannock News Entry Title: Rappahannock County celebrates Independence Day 2023 Entry Credit: Luke Christopher, Ray Boc Judge Comment: What a wonderful visual report on Independence Day weekend. There are some photos in here that should be framed and celebrated in town, such as the boy on the tractor, the two girls on the tractor, the boy on the bull and the lovely portrait of Richard Compton. You could do a photo exhibit. The scenes and the faces are that nice. This is a close second as the care from the photographer in how they framed the community celebration to include faces and landscape is evident throughout the photos.
Place Name: Third Place Contestant Name: The Tidewater News Entry Title: Windsor celebrates winning... then and now Entry Credit: Titus Mohler Judge Comment: This entry has good football action photography and uses the photography to add context to the historical nature of this event. This documents the importance of the night in relationship to the parents, players and other community members. That pride and emotion shows through.
