Rangefinder Magazine
June 2002

2002 Awards of Excellence Print Competition by Bill Hurter

This year’s WPPI Awards of Excellence Print Competition was a huge success, judged by almost any standard. The competition brought in 1024 prints—almost double the number from last year—from photographers representing 14 different countries from around the world.

The competition was judged by three panels of judges chaired by Robert Love, Michael Ayers and Tony Corbell, who was the competition chairman. All told, we needed 24 judges, including alternates, to complete the task. The competition was judged in a single day and those prints scoring 80 and above were displayed in a special area of the WPPI Trade Show.

This year saw some vital changes to the print competition. A new category, Photojournalism, which included wedding and non-wedding subcategories was introduced to accommodate the huge number of entries in this field. Also, the Special Effects and Digital categories were combined to form a single category.

Another change, long overdue, was the decision to allow judges to enter the competition. Print judges, obviously, were not allowed to be part of the judging process of their own prints. As always, print entries are anonymous during judging. But the effect of permitting judges to enter the competition was to significantly “raise the bar” by allowing some of our most
decorated and talented photographers to also enter the competition.

Grand Prize Awards were given to the winning print in each of the five categories: Wedding, Portrait, Photojournalism, Digital/Special Effects and Premier (for first time entrants in a print competition).

First Place and Grand Award winners are listed on the following pages along with their photographs.

DIGITAL/SPECIAL EFFECTS CATEGORY Grand Prize: The winner of the Digital/Special Effects category received a Fujifilm FinePix S1 Pro and Tamron SP AF 28–105mm f/2.8 lens.

GRAND AWARD: David Anthony Williams from Victoria, Australia for “Autumn–After Sir Joshua Reynolds.” Grand Prize: The Grand Award winner will receive a Mamiya SVX-2 Kit, which includes a Mamiya M645 Body, 80mm lens and 120 film back.

GRAND AWARD: Brook Todd from Aptos, CA for “Illumination” Grand Prize: Canon Powershot G2 with Speedlite 220 EX flash.	PREMIER CATEGORY First Place: Gina Motisi from Storybook, NY for “Chores"	PHOTOJOURNALISM, NON-WEDDING, First Place CarrilloUpland, CA “The Great Divide”

DIGITAL/SPECIAL EFFECTS, NON-WEDDING, First PlaceRobert Kunesh Willoughby, OH “Beetlemania”	DIGITAL/SPECIAL EFFECTS, WEDDING, First Place & Grand Award:Heidi Mauracher Santa Barbara, CA “Kicking Back While I Wait”

WEDDING CATEGORY

Bride Or Groom Alone, First Place & GRAND AWARD, Joe Buissink, Beverly Hills, CA for “At First Sight”	Bride And Groom Together, First Place Kenneth Sklute, Tempe, AZ “Circle of Joy”	Bridal Party, First PlaceFrank Cava, Ontario, Canada “What’s Up”	Engagement, First Place Joe Photo,San Juan Capistrano, CA “Fountain of Youth”

PORTRAIT CATEGORY

Individual, First Place David Anthony Williams, Ashburton, Victoria, Australia “Guarding the Wells at Beersheba, 1917”	Animals/Pets, First Place Paul Tsang, San Carlos, CA “Check”	Child, First Place Louise Botticelli E. Setauket, NY “Waiting For Santa’”	High School Senior, First Place Chris NelsonFall Creek, WI “Dreamer”