Place Name: First Place Contestant Name: Southside Sentinel Entry Title: Tree crushes man's pickup, cars Entry Credit: Larry Chowning Judge Comment: Ouch! The back of pickup crushed by a falling tree. You can't help but wince. There was a second photo of another truck also crushed, and it was there was no indication which photo was the entry; the judge chose the best image.
Place Name: Second Place Contestant Name: Rappahannock News Entry Title: Brush fires break out Entry Credit: Ireland Hayes Judge Comment: An almost surrealistic image of a man standing in the road. The atmosphere is affected by the smile from fires, but could just as easily be fog. While there is an ambulance in the background, more fire imagery would make this a stronger image.
Place Name: Third Place Contestant Name: The Recorder Entry Title: Train Derails Entry Credit: Gavin Dressler Judge Comment: Clear image of derailed train cars. Easy to see what is going on, but not as strong an image as some others.
Competition Comment: This competition could well hae been subtitled the disaster category as all the entries dealt with natural or man-made disasters. Typically, with entires like these the in-the-moment images (usually fires) are stronger than the important, but ordinary documentation after the fact. But many of the images were shot strait on and from a distance that failed to provide a strong focal point.
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