First Place
Joanna Nolasco and Staff
The Daily, Univ. of Washington, Seattle, Wash.
http://dailyuw.com/series/behind-budget/

Judge's comments: A remarkably clear explanation of how budget cuts affect students at the University of Washington. A well-designed Flash animation anchors exhaustive coverage of the effect of budget cuts, and showcases how multimedia elements help answer one of the fundamental questions journalists face: How does this story affect our audience?

Second Place
Staff of The Rocky Mountain Student Media Corporation
Rocky Mountain Collegian, Colorado State Univ., Fort Collins, Colo.
http://www.studentmediacorp.com/multimedia/earthday/index.php

Judge's comments: This comprehensive package on the 40th Earth Day is a model of easy navigation, with clearly marked audio, video and text elements held together by a fresh, smart splash page. Wide-ranging coverage highlights how student journalists can succesfully tackle issues that go far beyond student life.

Third Place
Staff
The Review, Univ. of Delaware, Newark, Del.
http://www.udreview.com/chrysler

Judge's comments: An ambitious, multi-faceted project that uses multimedia elements , including a 38-minute documentary shot, written and produced by students, to look at how the closure of a 50-year old auto plant affects an entire city. Interactive maps and data from financial sources round out the picture, and original copies of reports and blueprints help explain how the former industrial site will become an addition to the University of Delaware campus.

Honorable Mention
Kristen Hulsey
The Daily Titan, California State Univ., Fullerton, Fullerton, Calif.
http://www.dailytitan.com/2010/04/19/nsmrally/

Judge's comments: This well-packaged coverage of a political rally and counter-rally in Los Angeles provides a balanced, even-handed look at the rarely-seen phenomenon of American neo-Nazism, a movement that the US Department of Homeland Security considers a grave threat. Through the simple and elegant use of basic multimedia tools like the embedding of a reporter’s video package from the scene and a Google map, plus clear text, the article puts the neo-Nazi rally in an easily graspable context.

First Place
Ben Severance, Brittany Mollenkof
College Heights Herald, Western Kentucky Univ., Bowling Green, Ky.
http://vimeo.com/9890106

Judge's comments: A riveting, highly professional four minutes and eleven seconds that excelled in pre-production, day of production and post-production. The story selection, lighting and camera positioning show thorough planning and forethought. The camera and sound work in a crowded, chaotic environment were first rate. The right calls were made in the edit room, letting bites and natural sound move the narrative forward, turning the whole package into a tour de force. I’ve never seen a story on boxing that brought me in quite like this.

Second Place
Ryan Dorgan
Indiana Daily Student, Indiana Univ., Bloomington, Ind.
http://www.idsnews.com/news/multimedia/media.aspx?id=31477&type=M

Judge's comments: Beautifully shot and embedded in the Daily Student web site, this story displayed a creative mix of stills, video, and sound. The choice of subject matter was imaginative, and followed Don Hewitt’s dictum to “tell me something I don’t already know.”

Third Place
Jose Villareal, Kristen Cabrera, Joao Calhandro
The Pan American, Univ. of Texas Pan American, Edinburg, Texas
http://www.panamericanonline.com/sga-elections-2010-1.2217421

Judge's comments: A creative look at how a candidate’s philosophy can be expressed interactively. Made us wonder if this is what presidential campaign Web sites will look like a generation from now.

Honorable Mention
Reina Murphy, Chelsea Twietmeyer
The Baker Orange, Baker Univ., Baldwin City, Kan.
http://www.thebakerorange.com/specials/travels

Honorable Mention
Kate Jacobson, Josh Radtke
The State News, Michigan State Univ., East Lansing, Mich.
http://statenews.com/index.php/article/2010/04/paying_it_forward

Honorable Mention
Dylan Sylwester, Frank Knight, Rebecca Toews
Flux, Univ. of Oregon, Eugene, Ore.
http://www.fluxstories.com/2010/06/hook-it-and-book-it/

First Place
Andrew Maloney, Charles Tan Lim, Jill Disis
The Daily Illini, Univ. of Illinois, Champaign, Ill.
http://www.dailyillini.com/special/gameday-2010/2010/02/08/espn-gameday-comes-to-champaign

Judge's comments: The video “ESPN GameDay comes to Champaign” reflects not just excellent technical execution, but top-notch planning as well. The time-lapse photography of the crowd gathering overnight at the arena, the shot of the ESPN personalities rocking with the student body and the walk-in shot from the perspective of someone walking out onto the court illustrate that a lot of storyboarding was done before any video was shot. The video and audio quality here are superb.

Second Place
Sam Abrams, Hayden Atkins, Brian McAndrew
Flux, Univ. of Oregon, Eugene, Ore.
http://www.fluxstories.com/2010/06/the-fighter/

Judge's comments: A very well packaged and well shot story about a fighter-turned-politician which resists the urge to get overly sensational. The quotes from the fighter/politician and his family serve to round out the narrative well and here again it’s apparent that the shots were set up very carefully. The production values are top notch. I gave the Daily Illini piece the edge because it didn’t draw from network video like this one did.

Third Place
Anne Acio
Flux, Univ. of Oregon, Eugene, Ore.
http://www.fluxstories.com/2010/03/softball-coach-learns-about-life-from-athletes/

Judge's comments: The production values don’t quite match the previous entry, but the story told here of the softball coach and his team is fabulous. The story is told with a mix of humor and straightforward reporting that keeps it from getting sappy. The editing here is good and tight and the narrative threads together very well. I had the feeling that I was enjoying the games from the bench.

Honorable Mention
Rachel Ewy
The Miami Hurricane, Univ. of Miami, Coral Gables, Fla.
http://www.vimeo.com/7259393

Judge's comments: A solid, simple piece which does a good job of rounding out the story of the female boxer.  The honest quotes from the boxer combined with simple but effective editing tells a story with minimal glitz, which is exactly what this story called for.

Honorable Mention
Wendy Gaskill
The Communicator, Spokane Falls CC, Spokane, Wash.
http://vimeo.com/10297416

Judge's comments: This low-tech roller derby piece is a terrific example of how to put together a good multimedia story on a budget. The use of old-looking black-and-white images creates a visual historical link between the sport of today and yesteryear. The honest and frank comments from the players and the dark and grubby look of the roller derby rink serve to enhance the story and help to get across the point that this is a tough, if rewarding sport.

Honorable Mention
Staff
The Daily News, Ball State Univ., Muncie, Ind.
http://files.bsudailynews.com/WO_Flash/finalmain.html

Judge's comments: This extremely well-researched and executed Winter Olympics guide illustrates how an online feature can serve as a quality extension of print publication. Not only does the guide offer schedules and descriptions of the sports, but it often goes deeper, often providing bits of trivia or history lessons to put a sport in proper perspective. This is a good example where a simple and clean interface beats a sophisticated and crowded one.

First Place
David N. B. Jackson, Eli Baylis
Student Printz, Univ. of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, Miss.
http://bit.ly/sp-haiti

Judge's comments: This stark portfolio on the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti shows that the photographers have learned the lesson of the great Robert Capa: Get close. Brandishing a camera in the face of the poorest and the dead, and doing it well, is not easy even for seasoned veterans. This slideshow proves that having the right stuff for serious photojournalism does not always depend on age or experience.

Second Place
Daniel Lin
Collegiate Times, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va.
http://www.collegiatetimes.com/galleries/167/weekend-warriors

Judge's comments: Excellent captioning makes this slideshow on a weekend of ROTC training stand out, and helps tell the visual story of the exercise – literally from dawn to dusk. The photographer, embedded with an ROTC unit, consistently shows the ability to point the lens in the right direction at the right time to capture a meaningful moment.

Third Place
Photo Staff
The Daily Illini, Univ. of Illinois, Champaign, Ill.
http://www.dailyillini.com/news/campus/2010/03/05/visitors-embrace-unofficial-celebration

Judge's comments: This comprehensive slideshow pulls together the work of several staff photographers dispatched around campus to follow the festivities on St. Patrick’s Day. Good access, well-written captions, the use of timelines and a willingness to get close to the subjects and ask questions all contribute to a quality, engaging report.