UNC Hussman alumni win numerous top photojournalism awards from NPPA

UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media alumni took home 29 awards in the recent National Press Photographers Association (NPPA) 2021 Best of Photojournalism awards.

Jason Arthurs ’03, Andrea Bruce ’95, Claire Hannah Collins ’17, Andrea Patino Contreras ’16 (M.A.), Lauren Frohne ’10 (M.A.), Nancy Donaldson Gauss ’05, Alex Kormann ’19, Laura Morton ’06, Whitney Shefte ’07, Anna Clare Spelman (M.A.) ’17, Ray Whitehouse (M.A.) ’16 and Margaret Cheatham Williams ’11 all took home awards for their work.

From veteran journalists to recent graduates, UNC Hussman alumni represented local and national outlets documenting a wide range of topics, including 2020’s turbulent sociopolitical issues such as the Black Lives Matter movement, former President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial and COVID-19’s multipronged cultural effects.

“If the events of 2020 confirmed anything with more certainty, it’s that visual storytelling is a necessary lynchpin of impactful journalism,” read text on the NPPA webpage announcing the contest winners. “The sights, sounds and emotions of what we collectively experienced last year largely brought our society together — but in other ways it widened social chasms. You captured it all — the good and the bad, the triumphs and the defeats.”

Founded in 1946, the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA) promotes all facets of visual journalism — still images, video and multimedia — not only through awards but advocacy. For example, in its early years, the group fought to have cameras allowed in courtrooms.

The Best of Photojournalism competition is supported through a partnership with the University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication and presented by Sony as its primary sponsor.

Kormann, a photojournalist at the Star Tribune in Minneapolis, won first place in the Emerging Vision category. The award is given for a portfolio of work from a young journalist with two years of experience or less.

“While I am not in this field for awards or accolades, it always feels good to be acknowledged for a year of hard work, especially in one of the most trying years of my lifetime,” Kormann said. “The portfolio that I submitted was really anchored by a photo story I worked on for almost a year, documenting Taylor Bustos’ struggle with cancer for a second time. That story is really personal to me because I lost my father to cancer when I was 17 and have dedicated my career to him.”

Shefte, a senior video journalist at The Washington Post, won first place in the Online Video Storytelling – 24 hour category. She edited the video piece that her colleague Whitney Leaming shot, “How a Night of Protest Turned Deadly in Kenosha,” which documented Wisconsin protests after the police killing of Jacob Blake Jr.

Shefte also placed third in the Online Video Storytelling—Docuseries category for the project “Impeachment This Week,” an examination of the second impeachment trial of then-President Donald Trump.

“At The Post, covering the nation’s most pressing news of the day is obviously a major priority. In video, we work hard to do that in the most visual and most compelling ways possible,” Shefte said. “Winning awards in NPPA’s Best of Photojournalism competition is always a huge honor since judges are looking at visual journalism made by incredibly talented folks across our country.”

Collins, a Los Angeles Times video journalist, was part of five NPPA winning projects that covered a range of cultural topics, from a 14-language video explainer on how to vote (second place in the Online Visual Presentation – 2020 Election category) to a look at formerly incarcerated people trying to make firefighting a career (honorable mention in the Online Video Storytelling – News and Issue – Large and Small Team category).

“There is a wide range of experiences and emotions represented, with an emphasis on communities that have historically been marginalized [in the winning projects],” Collins said. “This year brought a lot of new challenges. Our team had to adapt quickly and try techniques that were new to us, which felt risky. In light of that, it is especially meaningful to see people resonate with the outcomes.”

Collins said her time at UNC Hussman taught her to be a better listener and view the world with a careful eye, traits that have aided her professional work.

Shefte credited UNC Hussman and her experience working at  The Daily Tar Heel as a student for preparing her for professional work. Kormann called his UNC Hussman education foundational, saying that faculty like Professor Pat Davison and Associate Professor Chad Heartwood and classes like “MEJO 580: Photo Stories” and MEJO 681: Photojournalism Projects” honed his skills, style and storytelling.

“It is in those classes that I learned how to effectively tell a long-term photo story and work on projects in a meaningful way,” Kormann said.