“With the Multimedia Competition, we are trying to do justice to what we see happening in the field,” World Press Photo Managing Director Michiel Munneke said on Friday as members of its international jury announced the 2013 winners of the nonprofit foundation's annual contest.
The competition highlights the world’s pre-eminent movers and shakers in the emerging field, with prizes spanning three categories: Online Short, Online Feature and Interactive Documentary.
Judges gathered at the World Press Photo office in Amsterdam over a period of six days earlier this year to view the 287 entries and discuss their respective merits.
“For the jury, the major challenge is that the field is changing almost hourly, so figuring out what the ‘standard’ is, is a very ephemeral effort,” said jury chair Keith W. Jenkins, who is also the supervising senior producer for multimedia at NPR. “You have to be able to articulate the specifics of what you’re looking for, but also be flexible and understand that it’s a process that’s evolving.”
Jenkins said that basic qualities of good journalism like integrity, narrative, voice and entertainment value still apply, but each year there are new developments “based on the technology, the platform and the storytelling intent of the people producing a particular work.”
World Press Photo’s Multimedia Competition is only in its third iteration this year and is separate from the long-running photojournalism contest, but the foundation's director, Muneke, said it’s an important field to highlight.
“Our ambition is to inspire photographers to move forward and explore new territories. We want to challenge them to tell stories in a different, compelling way,” he said. “Part of our mission is to encourage the highest professional standards in visual journalism and to support documentary storytelling in all its aspects. That’s why, amongst other initiatives, we started our multimedia contest."
The first place winner in each category receives a Golden Eye Award, in addition to a cash prize of 1,500 euros ($2,045). The organization will present the awards at a ceremony on April 27 in Amsterdam.
During the event, World Press Photo will unveil what it says is a ground-breaking research project to map the global emergence and development of multimedia in visual storytelling, developed by Dr. David Campbell and supported by FotografenFederatie, the Dutch Photographers Association.
For more information on the World Press Photo competition, visit www.worldpressphoto.org/2013-multimedia-contest or scroll down for a selection of winning images from the multimedia contest:
1st Prize Online Feature - Too Young to Wed
Executive producer, photographer and additional videographer: Stephanie Sinclair, VII Photo Agency
Director and cinematographer: Jessica Dimmock, VII Photo Agency
Production supervisor: Alina Grosman
Production assistant: Tesfaye Almnew
Translator: Simengnish Yekoye
Post production: Union HZ
Editor: Joshua Banville
Creative director: Jeremiah Zagar
Graphic design: Jonah Birns
Executive producer: Jeremy Yaches
Associate producer: Alice K. Dugan
Translator: Noel MesfinUNFPA and VII Photo Agency in association with Union HZFifteen-year-old Destaye and her husband spend their time working in the fields of Ethiopia and taking care of their six-month-old baby. At the time of their marriage, Destaye was 11-years old and still in school, but her husband expressed interest in letting her continue her education. Since the birth of their son, however, she has had to fulfill her duties as a wife and mother exclusively.Still from Too Young to Wed1st Prize Interactive Documentary - Alma a Tale of Violence
Authors and directors: Miquel Dewever-Plana and Isabelle Fougère
Producers: Alexandre Brachet and Margaux Missika
Photography and camera: Miquel Dewever-Plana
Text and interview: Isabelle Fougère
Drawings: Hugues Micol
Art direction: Sébastien Brothier
Music: Greg Corsaro
Editing: Lydia Decobert
Animation: Jérôme Gonçalvès
Technical director: Maxime Quintard
Flash developer: David DesprèsFor five years, Alma belonged to one of the most violent gangs in Guatemala City. She has committed murder, battery, and brutality. Brutalized herself, she has been jailed many times.With 18 murders a day, Guatemala is a country undermined by violence. Alma is typical of her generation, where youths grow up in a world in which laws and justice are flouted with impunity. Families mired in poverty, despair, and alcoholism destroy each other in gang warfare that has become an ordinary way of life – and death.She was sentenced to death by her 'homies' the day she wanted to quit the gang. Yet she survived the bullets. Although she will never walk again, she is striving to rebuild her life.Miquel Dewever-Plana1st Prize Online Short - Into the Shadows
Photography, direction and camera: Pep Bonet, Noor Images
Producer, script and interviews: Line Hadsbjerg, Remarkable World
Sound designer, music and multimedia editor: José Bautista, KanseiSoundsPeople from neighboring countries move to South Africa in search of a better life. In inner-city Johannesburg, many of them struggle for acceptance in the face of discrimination, but are resourceful and persistent in their hope for the future.Pep Bonet, Noor Images2nd Prize Online Feature - Dying for Relief - Bitter Pills
Photography, video and production: Liz O. Baylen, Los Angeles Times
Executive producer: Mary VignolesEdward Shut spent 111 nights at Malibu Beach Recovery Center detoxing and undergoing intensive therapy to fight his addiction to prescription drugs.Liz O. Baylen, Los Angeles Times3rd Prize Online Short - Aleppo Battleground
Images: Jérôme Sessini, Magnum Photos for Le Monde
Editorial Director: Clément Saccomani, Magnum Photos
Producers: Antonin Sabot and Marie Sumalla, Le Monde
Photo Director: Nicolas Jimenez, Le MondeA photojournalist in Aleppo, Syria is guided by a member of the Free Syria Army (FSA) to the front line in Al Arkub, a civilian neighborhood destroyed by bombing and now serving as a post for the FSA. They then move to the neighborhood of Bustan Al-Bacha, next to the area still under the control of the Syrian Army.Jérôme Sessini, Magnum Photos for Le Monde2nd Prize Online Short - Living with a Secret
Photography, video and production: Arkasha Stevenson, Los Angeles Times
Executive producer: Marc MartinAn increasing number of children in the US are questioning their gender identity and seeking professional support at transgender clinics. Because of their age, the complex and emotional journey is as much their parents' as their own.'Living with a Secret' is the story of Amber, a soft-spoken, feminine 12-year-old who loves Hello Kitty and fashion design. When she was 10, she stopped going by her given name, Aaron, and began dressing as a girl.Arkasha Stevenson, Los Angeles Times3rd Prize Online Feature - Dreams on Freewheels (2)
Director, photographer and video editor: Yang Enze, Southern Metropolis Daily
Producer: Tan Weishan
Text: Yang Enze and Lin Yang
Visual designer: Guan Jian
Sound effects and music: Chi Shuai
Voiceover: Lin Wei
Executive producer: Liang Yin
General producer: Wang Jingchun
Producer: Huang Changkai and Zhuang ShenzhiThere are seven members in the China Disabled Track Cycling Team. The team trained for four years to compete at an international level and took part in the 2012 London Paralympic Games. They won six gold medals, four silver medals, and five bronze medals. As a team, these individuals have a better life.Yang Enze, Southern Metropolis Daily2nd Prize Interactive Documentary - Bear 71
Direction: Jeremy Mendes and Leanne Allison
Screenwriting: JB MacKinnon
Production: Loc Dao, Dana Dansereau, Rob McLaughlin, Bonnie Thompson and David Christensen
Installation co-creation: Lance Weiler
Web design and development: Jam3Bear 71 is an interactive story told from the point of view of a female grizzly bear, dubbed 'Bear 71'. Park rangers collared her when she was three-years old and tracked her through trail cameras. Her story speaks to how we coexist with wildlife in the age of networks, surveillance, and digital information en masse. The bear’s world is revealed through a script and the project features hundreds of ‘trail cam’ images of wildlife in the Rocky Mountains captured over the last ten years.Still from Bear 71, National Film Board Canada3rd Prize Interactive Documentary - Lost and Found
Producer and reporter: Claire O'Neill, NPR
Designer and developer: Wesley LindamoodIn the 1990s, photo historian Rich Remsberg discovered a collection of photos in boxes headed for the trash. The photos showed a view of American history like he had never seen it. America in color, as early as 1938.The photos Remsberg found had been taken by hobbyist photographer Charles W. Cushman and separated from a much larger collection. Fully reunified and now housed at Indiana University, the archive contains more than 14,000 photos spanning three decades typically depicted in black and white — including one of the first known color photos of a freshly-painted Golden Gate Bridge.Charles W. CushmanHonorable Mention Interactive Documentary - Unknown Spring
Director and photographer: Jake Price
Art director and programmer: Visakh MenonUnknownSpring is an immersive online anthology that chronicles a community's efforts to overcome the tsunami that struck Japan on 11 March 2011 through interactive maps, survivor interviews, video, and audio slideshows, Unknown Spring is a project that provides a portrait of Yuriage, a town that was obliterated by the tsunami's backwaters, and its residents as they try to move past their traumas and continue on with life.
Jake Price
