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WHNPA Announces Judges for 2022 ‘Eyes of History®’ Contests

By February 13, 2022August 3rd, 2022No Comments

Still Photography

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Dennis Brack Sr covered the White House from President John F. Kennedy to the beginning of Presidency of Donald Trump. Brack was a staff photographer for Black Star Publishing Company for 55 years and contract photographer for TIME.

For twenty-five years, Dennis Brack was the secretary/treasurer of the United States Senate Standing Committee of Press Photographers. In 2011, Brack received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the White House News Photographers Association.

Brack has given his photographic collection to The Briscoe Center for American History at the University of Texas.

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Nikki Kahn is an independent photojournalist based in San Francisco. She won the Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography in 2011 with her colleagues at The Washington Post “for their up-close portrait of grief and desperation after a catastrophic earthquake struck Haiti.”

Before joining the Washington Post in 2005, Kahn worked for Knight-Ridder Tribune Photo Service in Washington D.C. as a staff photographer and editor.

Kahn has covered stories both nationally and internationally.

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Eric Thayer is a photographer based in Los Angeles. He extensively covered four presidential campaigns, one administration, and is currently working on projects focused on natural disasters, climate change and the U.S./Mexico border. His unique aesthetic and style has been featured prominently by major publications such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, Getty, Reuters, and Bloomberg, among others.

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Broadcast Video Photography

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Brett Akagi has over 30 years in the business as a visual journalist, mentor and leader, with deep roots in the NPPA. At KARE-TV as the director of photography, he led his team to four NPPA Station of the Year awards and was also named the NPPA runner-up photographer of the year. Akagi also helped the Star Tribune in Minneapolis earn regional and national Murrow awards as a senior video producer. He earned regional Emmys across three decades in four newsrooms. Recently, he was the NPPA Best of Photojournalism contest chair for Video Photojournalism.

Akagi serves as an adviser of curriculum at the largest school district in Kansas and Northwest Missouri State University, is an instructor at the NPPA News Video Workshop, provides critiques and advice for the NABJ Visual Task Force participants, judges regional Emmy contests, regional Murrows and the NATAS Student Production Awards.

Akagi mentors professional and student journalists is a guest instructor for multiple universities and currently works as a multimedia content producer for Blue KC in Kansas City, Missouri. He can also roll his own sushi.

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Katie Campbell is an Emmy and Edward R. Murrow award-winning filmmaker and journalist at ProPublica. Prior to joining ProPublica, she oversaw video for EarthFix, a public-media science and environmental reporting partnership in the Pacific Northwest and served as a special correspondent for the national PBS NewsHour. Campbell began her career as a reporter at daily newspapers in Minnesota and Florida. She holds a master’s degree in narrative journalism from the University of Oregon and went on to teach multimedia journalism at the UO School of Journalism and Communication.

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Doug Legore is a nationally recognized, visual storyteller who has told stories from around the world and from around the corner. He believes the size of the stage doesn’t mean the approach to memorable storytelling is any different. He has won the NPPA’s National Photographer of the Year award, thirty regional Emmy Awards, and two Edward R. Murrow awards. Doug also contributed to KUSA-TV in Denver winning back-to-back NPPA Station of the Year honors. As a consultant, Doug has led storytelling workshops with the American Forces Network in Germany, Italy, Japan, and South Korea. He’s also shared his knowledge of photojournalism with aspiring journalists at Syracuse, Northwestern, Arizona State and Penn State University.

Legore has been a photojournalist, executive producer, and director of photography with stations in Harrisburg, PA and Denver, CO where he employed the “Ted Lasso” leadership style. He now runs Doug Legore Media from Carlisle, PA where he continues to tell stories that matter. Doug is an active member of his community, serving as an adjunct professor at Messiah University and as a member of the Penn State Health Dermatology Board. Additionally, he has coached winning baseball at all levels from Little League to American Legion.

He’s not afraid to tell his pitchers to throw a change up on a 3-0 count.

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Broadcast Video Editing

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David Herr is a two-time Emmy award-winning NYC based editor who has over 15 year’s experience working in television and film. He has edited content for a wide array of networks, including Netflix, Hulu, CNN, FX, HBO, Viceland, ESPN, and many more. He has also worked on a variety of independent film and video projects, and for brands including Nike and Google. Herr continues to further his passion of telling interesting stories through visual mediums and expanding his creative process by working with smart and talented individuals.

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Jim MacDonald is a Senior News Photographer/ Editor in the Parliamentary Bureau for CTV National News. He was previously posted in the Canadian networks Washington News Bureau. He was an active member of the WHNPA during his 20 years in D.C. For over 30 years he has covered news and worked on documentaries receiving honors from the WHNPA and CSC (Canadian Society of Cinematographers).

His work has taken him around the globe covering conflict zones including Bosnia, Afghanistan, Benghazi, 2 Olympic Games, the Arab Spring in Egypt, numerous political conventions, national disasters, royal weddings and everything in between. One of his latest assignments was to Nunavut in Canada’s high arctic to report on climate change and the water crisis in Iqaluit. Jim and his wife Janet are empty nesters living in a very cold Ottawa.

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Kristi-Lee Neuberger has spent the last three years discovering every corner of New York City. From community gardens, to protests, to impeachment trials, to sports, and the monthly specials; Neuberger is down to cover everything and add her own creative spin. Taking her role as a photojournalist to its full potential, she’s had the opportunity to pitch, produce, shoot, write, and edit pieces for air.

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Digital Storytelling

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Committee note: Due to a last minute assignment, the previously announced Jika González was replaced by Juanita Ceballos.

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Juanita Ceballos is a documentary producer and cinematographer based in New York. She currently works for VICE News. She has reported throughout Latin America, with bylines in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, Mexico, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela. She has covered stories including the epidemic of forced disappearances in Mexico, Venezuela’s migration crisis, Brazil’s 2018 presidential election, and the aftermath of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico.

Before moving to the United States, she worked as a videographer in the Mexico City bureau at Telemundo, where she reported extensively on the disappearance of 43 students from the Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers’ College. Her work has appeared on VICE News, HBO, Showtime, Telemundo, Al Jazeera, Univision, NBC News, TIME, Narratively and, The New York Times. She’s a graduate of Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism where she sometimes works as an adjunct professor.

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Brian Kaufman is the Executive Video Producer at the Detroit Free Press, where he bridges the gap between video journalism and documentary film. Kaufman’s work spans a broad range, from news-driven shorts to feature films on social and environmental issues. The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences has awarded Kaufman three Emmy awards and nominated him in the craft category of Nature and Wildlife Cinematography. Most recently, Kaufman directed and edited The Wall, a feature film about President Trump’s proposed border wall that was part of the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting. To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Detroit rebellion, Kaufman directed and edited 12th and Clairmount, an entirely archival feature film that Variety described as, “a revelatory portrait of the city … illuminating and innovatively crafted.”

Kaufman’s career began with a Visual Journalism degree at Brooks Institute of Photography in California and a job at the Naples Daily News in Florida, where he helped launch the first newspaper-based television newscast in the country. Since joining the Detroit Free Press, Kaufman has been instrumental in facilitating the education of video journalism to other newspaper photographers and reporters, including a USA Today Network initiative that dramatically increased video traffic in newsrooms nationwide. He teaches video storytelling annually at Maine Media Workshops.

In his spare time, Kaufman pursues adventure, solitude and fine art photography in wilderness.

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Sue Morrow is the Editor and Creative Director for NPPA’s News Photographer magazine and the Director of The Kalish Workshop. She has worked as a photo editor and manager at some of the best newspapers in the country: San Jose Mercury News, Tampa Bay Times, The Sacramento Bee, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and The Boston Globe. During her tenure as Assistant Managing Editor for photography at the Times, the photo staff was recognized with numerous awards for photography and editing in Pictures of the Year International, Best of Photojournalism, and Society of News Design, winning Picture Editing Team Portfolio in POYi.

She was the visiting professional for E.W. Scripps School of Communications at Ohio University in 2017-18 and has lectured at The Poynter Institute, Atlanta Photojournalism Seminar and many NPPA-related seminars and contests. Since 1994, she has been faculty and board member with The Kalish pictures editing workshop and served as its director 2011-13 and 2022. She has been a judge for POYi, BOP, SND, the White House News Photographers Association, and the Hearst Journalism Awards Program.

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Sue Morrow, picture editor, designer, producer
Photo by Michael Rondou

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Student Still

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Jabin Botsford has been a staff photographer at The Washington Post since March 2015. He earned an associate degree in photography at Pellissippi State Community College in Knoxville, followed by an internship at the Daily Times in Maryville, Tennessee. In 2011, Botsford transferred to Western Kentucky University to enter its photojournalism program. While attending Western Kentucky, he interned at The Washington Post, the New York Times (twice), the Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch and the Los Angeles Times. His work is now focused mostly on news and politics around the country and world. He lives in Washington. He was also named the 2017 and 2019 White House News Photographer of the Year.

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Elizabeth Frantz is an independent photojournalist newly based in Arlington, VA., and most frequently found covering Capitol Hill or The White House. Originally from central New York state, she eventually found herself at Western Kentucky University’s photojournalism program, various internships, and working as a staff photographer at The Concord Monitor. More recently she extensively covered the 2020 New Hampshire Presidential Primary for The New York Times and traveled with then-candidate Joe Biden for the South Carolina and Super Tuesday primaries for Reuters.

Her work has been recognized by the Boston Press Photographers Association, National Press Photographers Association, and the Hearst Journalism Awards Program. She attended the Eddie Adams Workshop in 2014. Her clients include Reuters, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, NPR, Bloomberg, Buzzfeed, New Hampshire Magazine, and more.

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Stefani Reynolds is a photographer and photo editor for Agence France-Presse in Washington DC. A New York native, she graduated from Pratt Institute in 2018. Following an internship with The Hill newspaper, she continued to cover national politics for outlets including The New York Times, Bloomberg, The Washington Post, and Getty Images.

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Student Video

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Alice Li is an award-winning video journalist for The Washington Post. From covering breaking news to filming and producing mini-documentaries, Alice has had the privilege to cover some of the nation’s most pressing and compelling stories. Throughout her six-year career at The Post, Alice has reported extensively on systemic racism, climate change, the opioid epidemic, national politics, amongst other issues. She is passionate about exploring the distinctions between natural and man-made disasters, internal displacement and migration, and resiliency in the wake of trauma. Her work has been recognized by the Peabody Awards, Edward R. Murrow’s Awards, Emmy Awards, Webby Awards, and others.

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Beth Brown got her start in news business right out of high school through an internship that turned into a full-time job at WVEC-TV in the Hampton Roads area. She was hired first as a tape operator then became an editor and then transitioned into a photojournalist within 3 years. In 2011 she made her move to DC where she worked for the Hearst DC Bureau covering Capitol Hill and the White House. Some memorable career moments include going to Cuba to cover the death of Fidel Castro to covering the historic flooding in Houston, Texas during hurricane season to covering the social justice protests after the death of George Floyd. Beth currently works for NBC4 in Washington DC as a general assignment photographer: Beth enjoys speaking to young people trying to break into the business. She has also served as treasurer for the non-profit group Women Photojournalists of Washington. She is grateful for the opportunity to document history every day.

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Brian Hopkins began his television career in 1983, volunteering while in high school, with FCAC Ch. 10 in Northern Virginia and WNVC/WNVT Public Tv. Over several years, he completely immersed himself in public access television, including producing and production work. One show he produced, lasted for 30 years. Soon, he began interning with Media General Cable Ch. 8, in Fairfax, Va., quickly learning his way around a real (non-public access ) television studio. In 1987, WNVC/WNVT became Brian’s first full time television home, shooting news on Capitol Hill, as well as doing studio production work. From 1989-1991, Media General Cable Ch. 8, in Fairfax, Va., took Brian in fulltime, where he thrived doing studio production, while spending periodic weekends shooting local spot news. This is where he first was bitten by the spot news bug. In 1991, Newchannel 8, which took over the Ch. 8 frequency, hired Brian as a production assistant. There he slowly made the transition to electronic news gathering and, by the time he left in 1996, was a full time photojournalist. CONUS Communications hired Brian to shoot news, covering Congress from 1996-1998. And finally, in December of 1998, starting as a freelance videographer, Brian was hired as a fulltime shooter/editor, just 5 months later, for WJLA-ABC 7, where he has been, ever since. Brian has won 5 local Emmys, plus received a number of additional nominations. With his reporter, he has won a Murrow award, an AP award, and has secured numerous first, second, third and honorable mention awards with the White House News Photographer Association. First place winnings earned Brian 5 trips to the Oval Office. When he gets the chance, Brian enjoys teaching and answering questions from youth who are interested in a career in television. Several times he’s volunteered for a program called, ”Facetime with the Pros”, a day for interested youth to attend lectures, get hands-on experiences with real broadcast equipment, and have face-to-face time with broadcast professionals, such as he, from around the DC area. Brian has also received numerous thank you cards from WJLA interns, whom he had taken under his wing, during their stay. Brian says he has the “very best career”. Even when off the clock, he “sees life thru a camera lens”. Always picturing the best camera angle, where ever he goes. Even when Brian’s traveling on vacation, or as he begins the weekend, he looks forward to what the next work day will bring and to what adventures he will find.

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Nate Luna’s camera has taken him across the country and around the world over the past twelve years, from local news in small-town California to international news at one of America’s largest networks. He currently covers transportation out of ABC’s Washington DC Bureau. When he isn’t shooting or editing, he enjoys breaking (and fixing) his old car, barbecuing, brewing beer, playing with Legos, and being outside.

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2022 Eyes of History Judging Weekend

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The 2022 Eyes of History Judging will be held online February 26-27 via Microsoft Teams. On Friday, Feb. 25, we will hold an event via Teams.
The 2022 WHNPA General Election will also be held during this event. For more information, visit our events page.

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