Best of the Web

• Posted By: Albert Lee
• Posted On: 2:45 p.m. | February 25, 2011

Results from the large photojournalism contests are starting to trickle in.  Contests are an opportunity to look back on our work against a field of other great work. And that field forms a tableau of how we journalists see the world.  It is an opportunity to congratulate each other, learn from mistakes, get inspired, re-spark conversation and eventually learn and move on to more great journalism.

The winners for one of the oldest and most prestigious photojournalism contests, the 68th annual Pictures of the Year International Competition, have been announced, and a select number of multimedia projects has risen to the top.

First place multimedia feature story

A Year at War, the New York Times

The New York Times follows the stories of the 30,000 American men and women who make up the 1st Battalion, 87^th Infantry of the 10^th Mountain Division as they take part in the Afghanistan surge.

First place multimedia news story

Witness to the Pity of War, Time.com

Routine patrols are seldom routine in the northern Afghanistan, especially when insurgents are constantly taking potshots at the patrols.  Photographer Adam Ferguson documents the complexities of war and the toll on human life, and witnesses the unintentional killing of a girl in a U.S.-fired mortar strike.

First place multimedia issue reporting

Undesired, Media Storm

The pressure to bear a son cuts across the cultural diversity of India.  Despite the fact that the cost to educate a girl is often lower than the life earnings spent on a dowry, many girls are groomed only to serve a man. No matter what a girl does, she is affected by this cultural pressure to bear a son, and not doing so can be devastating.  According the U.N., about 7,000 female fetuses are aborted every day, solely because they are female.

First place multimedia impact 2010

A Breach of Faith in Haiti, Time.com

In the days that followed the Haiti earthquake, filmmakers Shaul Schwarz and Julie Platner would witness scenes that could test even the most faithful.  Their cameras caught the desperation of finding loved ones trapped beneath rubble without the means to rescue them, the mayhem of people scraping through the remains of the city and the hard decisions to cut off limbs in order to save lives.