Richard Adkins
Chief Photographer

I’ve said before we place too much emphasis on winning contests and awards. We ought to reward those who do a good job everyday, not just on contest entries. And we really need to do a better job mentoring those people who think they are doing well but instead are just missing the mark.


(Judging TV News Contest means watching a lot of videotape.)

I just sat through 90 minutes of viewing contest entries… it was a very painful 90 minutes of TV. While most of the stories weren’t terrible, none were of the caliber you’d want to win any award. There was a lot of really bad writing, a lot of missed opportunities in story telling and a lot of just average TV.


(Tapes are submitted by TV Stations and individuals. There are often dozens of stories per category.)

This is why we need more mentoring in the business. If the applicant’s thought this work was outstanding enough to win awards I think they are shooting at the wrong level. Award winning work should stand out above all else. It should be the stuff that shakes you, moves you to action, pulls at your heartstrings or at least makes everyone in the room quiet while viewing.


(Some of the STORIES are very good, but need to be better TV to win.)

The work we watched was average. If we had more mentors that could provide some serious feedback to these people we might be able to up the average and aim for spectacular. Upping the average would also reward people for their everyday work.