BetterBNC

Best Sports Photograph ( More than 15,000 Students)Back

Place Name: First Place
Contestant Name: Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
Entry Title: Best Sports Photo - Mustang News
Entry Credit: Kyle Calzia
Judge Comment: This is a top-tier professional photo. Frankly there is nothing I could recommend to improve upon it in any way. Bravo, I look forward to following their work.
Place Name: Second Place
Contestant Name: University of California, Los Angeles
Entry Title: UCLA football takes down USC in highest-scoring win of 2021 season
Entry Credit: Ashley Kenney
Judge Comment: This would have won in practically any other year as the photo is perfect. Great subject matter, great emotion, great timing and perfectly shot. I look forward to this photog’s work going forward.
Place Name: Third Place
Contestant Name: San Jose State University
Entry Title: Spartans defeat New Mexico State
Entry Credit: Travis Wynn
Judge Comment: A beautiful night-time photo, well shot with plenty of action and great separation. The only nit-pick I have is that the colors muddle together a little bit between the helmets and the background, but composition and shot-wise is very well done.
Competition Comment: This category is always one of the toughest to judge as at this level many of the photographers are all but professional photojournalists in name. Cal Poly’s shot itself is a work of art, something that should be aspired to in collegiate photojournalism and UCLA’s is a masterwork in group shots that harken back to superbowl win photos of years past. Third place was the toughest to choose as Cal’s basketball shot only lost due to a slightly more open cropping that distracted just enough from the action for me to give it to SJSU as the only detraction I had for their photo was due to background elements that are less in the control of the photog. Excellent work all around!