The People’s Choice awards were selected by open judging at https://league.photo/unpa.php. Visitors to our site cast 5,144 votes over 30 days. This was the first year of this category.
We are presenting the top ten photographs as well as the top photo from each photojournalist who entered the contest.
Judged by Erin Hooley
judged by Rachel Molenda
Judge’s comment: An uncommon view of Salt Lake City’s tallest luxury apartment complex, this image makes the seemingly mundane into something worth looking at
judged by Tom Leininger. Judge’s comments are below.
Thanks again for offering this opportunity to judge this category.
Overall Comments:
This category had a wide variety of pictures and there is some solid daily work in the category. The pictures that stood out clearly had strong content, good toning, and an approach that went beyond the typical needs of the newspaper. Photographs that were more carefully toned and punchier in terms of contrast stood out. Re-toning for the year-end contest is not always a bad idea.
First Place:
This picture jumped out right away. The faces of the horses along with the body language make for a dynamic photograph. This is something that I have not seen before and it was one of those times where I said wow out loud. The dust being kicked up and the frozen hair on their tails add to the overall wild mood.
Second Place:
This is a subtler photograph and the look on her face tells the story. The darkness and the layers of the image add to the feel of the picture. I did not need to read the caption to know this was a story about homelessness.
Third Place:
While there were other strong climate change pictures this one gives a more dire feeling along with an overwhelming sense of scale. The composition and soft light make for a photograph that uses beauty to tell a horrifying story.
HM:
There is some motion blur here that adds to the image. The symmetry of the trees and the early morning blue light gives elevate this picture beyond the expected. “Sharpness is a bourgeois concept,” as Henri Cartier-Bresson said.
HM:
The girl in the lower left looking in a different direction than the rest of the kids is what I kept coming back to. Seeing the different body language of the other kids added to it. It is clear that this picture comes from a larger story, but it works well to tell the continuing Covid story.
HM:
This photo kept staying in the final group because of the layered composition and strong colors, along with the facial expression of the man in the center.
judged by Seth Harrison. Judge’s comments are below.
1st place: The photo of the family members at a vigil for a member of the military killed in Afghanistan caused a visceral reaction in me immediately. The photo has all the elements for an evocative image… the woman covering her mouth while overwhelmed, the little child waving the flag, strong composition. I don’t know that this photo needed to be shown in black and white. It may have been just as dramatic in color, but nevertheless, it’s a powerful, well composed image, and a very strong moment.
2nd place: The intensity on the faces of the children, especially the boy in the middle, is hysterical. The photographer positioned himself/herself perfectly, and nailed the moment.
3rd place: A beautiful photo from a Pride event. I love the protestor with arms stretched out and the city below.
HM: My first thought was that this was a body bag with a corpse inside, which somehow made the fact that it’s a homeless person wrapped in a blanket even more troubling (and heartbreaking).
Judged by Michael Santiago – @MSantiagophotos – MSantiagophotos.com
judged by Brais Lorenzo Couto
Judged by Elisabetta Zavoli – @elizavola
Covid-19 has deeply permeated and shaped our life for a year already. The first part of the pandemic has been massively characterized by the health emergency (and still is in many parts of the world) while as months passed the social and economic aftermath took the stage of the global narrative opening the way to even more alarming issues. The understanding of these issues is of strategic importance for the years to come. This is the reason why I chose for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place the photographs that best tell us about Covid-19 pandemic consequences on society.
I was deeply moved by the impact of Covid-19 on Navajo Nation and especially on the students who depend on meals at school. The story of this teacher that everyday delivers meals to her students living far from the school is an extraordinary example of caring and love. I also like a lot the composition so well balanced: the right half of the picture is the beautiful and desolate land of the Monument Valley while the left half is occupied by the yellow school bus on whose windows the landscape and the girl are reflected but she can’t get in. At the very center, as to merge these two separate worlds, there are two hands meeting in a tender gesture of solidarity.
Anti mask movement (as well as anti vaccine movement, covid deniers, etc…) is very dangerous for society and what captured me in this picture is the involvement of children who should’ve been kept out of this game. I did like a lot the “diagonal” of hands and arms pointing from bottom and from above, right to the girl in pink at the centre of the image.
I liked a lot the composition of this picture, the regular pattern of lines and dots to keep the distance between people interrupted by the colorful human’s presence.
I like the strong emotional character of this picture emphasised by the bright red uniform and the torn apron after an exhausting shift of Covid-19 testing in Navajo Nation.
I like the perspective of this picture. The frontal point of view from bottom upwards and the nurse’s look straight into the camera makes me think of a sci-fi movie, as if the hospital doors are opening on a “martian” world.
I like very much the composition of this picture and the emptiness of the Senate chamber where people have been “transformed” into tv screens.
I like the composition and the symmetry between the scattered lights on the ceiling and the scattered people praying.
Utah News Photographers Association 