We’re thrilled to announce the judges for the annual SND Creative Competition. This week, 43 professionals will come together in person to judge the best visual journalism of 2023. They span countries and represent a wide variety of fields. They will assess more than 4,400 print and digital entries.
Digital Judges
Christopher DeLisle, ESPN
Christopher DeLisle is the designer and creative lead for custom digital executions at ESPN. His duties also include overseeing style guides the team’s data visualization vertical. His path has taken him from motion graphics to print followed by agency work before returning to publishing and print with ESPN, and finally back to digital on projects of varying scales.
Emil Thorbjörnsson, Information
Emil Thorbjörnsson has more than 12 years of experience in broadcast, print and digital visual journalism (since 2012). This includes a 10-year tenure at the national Danish Broadcasting Corporation. His previous work includes motion graphics, web design, game design and illustration. Currently Emil serves as the art director at Information, a leading daily newspaper and is responsible for the direction and execution of both printed and digital visual output, overseeing the agency’s digital transition.
Emilio Amade, El Mundo
Born in Madrid, Spain, Emilio Amade attended art school in Florida, where he majored in illustration, learned from many talented artists and earned a fine arts degree. He fell in love with infographics during his summer internship at the St. Petersburg Times — the same summer O.J. Simpson was being chased down the 405. Later on, he earned a master’s degree in 3D and animation and became a journalist working with some of the best visual journalists a newsroom has ever produced. He coordinates a team of visual artists and journalist and publishes in both printed and online platforms. He is still learning.
Jamie Hutt, The Star Tribune
Jamie Hutt stabbed himself with an X-ACTO knife on the first night of his news career at the Halifax Daily News in 1986. He worked relatively injury free in Halifax as a graphic artist and page designer until a move West in 1993 landed him a design and graphics role at the Calgary Herald. He arrived at the Minneapolis Star Tribune in 1994 to join the team pushing the Twin City Daily onto the internet. We’re still pushing.
Jasen Lo, The Philadelphia Inquirer
Jasen Lo creates cool internet through data, code and design for the Philadelphia Inquirer. He has previously worked at the Kontinentalist and the Associated Press. Born and raised in Hong Kong, he is currently based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Joanne Lee, Rest of World
Based in New York City, Joanne Lee is the visual & UX designer at Rest of World. Previously, she was a designer and art director at The Washington Post. She lives in Brooklyn with her partner and cat Goguma, which means sweet potato in Korean.
Julia Janicki, AFP
Julia Janicki is from Taiwan and the U.S., lived in Japan for five years and is now based in France. She was trained in biology and remote sensing, but gradually transitioned into data visualization and data journalism. She worked as an independent for three years with clients, including various UN organizations, Reuters Graphics and the Urban Institute. Now, she is a data journalist at AFP. Her favorite topics are related to the environment, science + tech, culture, disinformation and human rights/democracy. She likes rock climbing, scuba diving, animals, art and languages.
Katherine Lee, The New York Times
Katherine Lee is the senior art director for games at The New York Times, heading the section’s editorial visual expression and illustration collaborations. Previously, she was the visual and UX designer at non-profit startup Rest of World, leading the design of experimental projects focusing on technology in non-Western countries. She has also art directed at The Washington Post and The Boston Globe.
Marcelo Duhalde, South China Morning Post
Marcelo Duhalde joined the Post as its infographic designer in 2016. Marcelo has won more than 90 Society for News Design awards, 17 Malofiej medals, one Peter Sullivan’s best of show (2015) and four gold medals at the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers awards.
Martina Ibáñez-Baldor, The Los Angeles Times
Martina Ibáñez-Baldor is design director for Latino Initiatives at the Los Angeles Times. In this role, she oversees all things visual storytelling for De Los, a new section exploring Latino culture and identity. Since joining the Times in 2015, she has worked across sections including A1, California, business, op-ed and features. Before joining The Times, Ibáñez-Baldor worked for the Minneapolis Star Tribune and Milwaukee Magazine. She has a degree in journalism and Spanish from Marquette University.
Matt Daniels, The Pudding
Matt Daniels is visual journalist based in Detroit, Michigan, reporting on stories that struggle to be told with prose alone. To advance the craft of visual storytelling, he founded The Pudding, an online journal for visual essays, which has been recognized by numerous journalism organizations for its efforts in data-led reporting and visualization. Through his work at The Pudding, he has collaborated with a number of organizations, including The Washington Post, The New York Times, Vox and The Marshall Project.
Matthew Weber, Reuters
Matthew Weber is the global head of graphics for Reuters, where he manages a group of the most-talented, hardest-working and generally fabulous group of visual journalists in the biz. If you challenge him on that, he will probably start making charts to back it up. Under his leadership, the team has won hundreds of awards at SND, as well as Webbys, Sigmas, Loeb Awards, Sopas, LA and NY press club, Polks, OPC, Wan-Ifra, Information is Beautiful Awards and contributed to multiple Pulitzer wins. Previously, he worked at The Wall Street Journal, both in the graphics department and as an art director.
Megan McCrink, National Geographic
Megan McCrink is a designer at National Geographic, where she designs and art directs for print and digital projects in Washington, D.C. Most recently, she worked as a lead UI/UX designer for U.S. government agencies, and previously worked at POLITICO, The Star Tribune, The Washington Post and The Boston Globe. Megan’s work in experimental storytelling and art direction has been recognized by the Society for News Design, including a silver medal for her art direction portfolio in 2020.
Paula Friedrich, POLITICO
Paula Friedrich is an interactive designer and developer based in Northern Michigan, working remotely for POLITICO. Her work is varied, spanning product, editorial and data visualization design. Delight and collaboration ties it all together. In her free time, she’s trying to get better at glazing ceramics and making nice braises.
Reem Akkad, The Washington Post
Reem Akkad is the visual enterprise editor for The Washington Post’s Foreign Desk, charged with imagining and executing immersive multimedia storytelling on the world’s most urgent stories. Reem works in collaboration with photo, video, print, design and graphics.
Regina McCombs, Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communications
Regina McCombs teaches visual journalism at the University of Minnesota, where she was honored with the 2022 Cox Innovation Award in part for her work creating the “Documenting a Reckoning: The Murder of George Floyd” photo exhibit. She also coordinates the Northern Exposure photojournalism conference. Previously, she was the senior editor for visual news at MPR News, leading the photography and video team; she taught multimedia, mobile and video journalism at the Poynter Institute; was senior producer for multimedia at the Star Tribune; and a photographer and field producer at KARE-TV in Minneapolis. Winner of numerous Best of Photojournalism and Pictures of the Year International awards for multimedia storytelling; Emmys for her video and multimedia work; and an Eppy and SPJ awards for MPR’s photography, she speaks regularly about finding new ways to tell stories on the web and mobile platforms.
Sharon Denning, Dow Jones
Sharon Denning has more than 25 years of experience connecting people with essential information. She currently holds the position of SVP of Product and Customer Experiences at Dow Jones, where she manages user experience for brands, including The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, Factiva and Risk & Compliance. Her background includes leading product and UX teams at organizations such as Time, Gannett and the New York Public Library. She holds an MFA from the School of Visual Arts.
Print Judges
Arnau Busquets Guàrdia, POLITICO Europe
Arnau Busquets Guàrdia is the deputy production editor at POLITICO Europe. Before joining POLITICO, he was a part of the team that launched 4YFN, the event for startups and entrepreneurs within Mobile World Congress Barcelona. He previously worked in multimedia content creation and was a reporter, editor and web content manager at Última Hora, Diari de Balears and Catalunya Ràdio. Arnau was born in the Catalan Pyrenees and is a graduate of Goldsmiths University of London, where he completed an M.A. in digital journalism with distinction. He previously studied journalism at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and at University of Technology Sydney, where he focused on digital and cross media production.
Becca Guajardo, The Houston Chronicle
Becca Guajardo is a designer at the Houston Chronicle, part of Hearst Newspapers. She has focused on editorial design throughout her career, previously working at the Tampa Bay Times and The Arizona Republic. She graduated from Michigan State University, where she was a design editor at The State News.
Bill Gaspard, China Daily
Bill Gaspard is the design director of China Daily, based in Beijing. Prior to joining China Daily in 2010, Bill held prominent visual editing/management positions at the Kansas City Star, San Diego Union-Tribune, Los Angeles Times and Las Vegas Sun. He organized two annual SND Workshops in San Diego and Las Vegas. He was a long-time board member for the Society, as well as a past president of the Society and the Foundation. He also is a Lifetime Achievement Award winner.
Bonita Miyagi, The Villages Daily Sun
Bonita Miyagi is the executive editor of The Villages Daily Sun, Florida’s largest daily printed newspaper and the only Top 20 newspaper in America still gaining circulation. Previously, she was the deputy managing editor at the Orlando Sentinel, the business design director at the San Jose Mercury News and a designer at the Orange County Register and L.A. Daily News after holding reporting, editing and art directing roles in small community newsrooms. In the past, she served for nine years on SND’s board of directors. She is a graduate of BYU-Idaho and Utah State University with a master’s degree from the University of Central Florida.
Brian Britigan
Brian Britigan is a Minneapolis-based artist and illustrator. Born and raised in Iowa City, Iowa, he studied art and animation at the University of Washington in Seattle before earning his MFA in illustration from the School of Visual Arts in New York City. His work has received recognition from American Illustration, Communication Arts, 3×3, Spectrum, a News & Documentary Emmy nomination and a gold medal from the Society of Illustrators.
Brooke Timmons, American City Business Journals
Brooke Timmons is a creative director on the National Design Desk at American City Business Journals, based in Louisville. She’s been with ACBJ for 16 years. She started her career as a designer for Louisville Business First. In 2020, she joined the National Design Desk as a senior designer and last year became the East Coast Regional Creative Director. She studied design and photography at the School of Journalism and Broadcasting at Western Kentucky University.
Christine Ashack, The Washington Post
Christine Ashack is a design editor at The Washington Post, leading a team of designers working on print, digital, social and newsletters across multiple sections. Previously, Christine worked at the Star Tribune in Minneapolis, designing and art directing features sections. She is a graduate of Indiana University with a degree in journalism.
C.J. Sinner, The Star Tribune
C.J. Sinner is the director of graphics and data visuals at the Star Tribune, where she has worked for nearly a decade in a variety of digital production, data and visual roles. Priors include the St. Paul Pioneer Press and Bismarck (N.D.) Tribune.
Clare Ramirez, The Hollywood Reporter
Clare Ramirez is a senior designer at The Hollywood Reporter in Los Angeles, working on the weekly magazine and special awards season issues. Previously, she was at The Washington Post where she designed and art directed for both print and digital platforms and across multiple sections in the newsroom. She is passionate about visual storytelling and advocates for diversity in art direction and illustration practices.
Cynthia Greer, The Philadelphia Inquirer
Cynthia Greer is a multiplatform designer at The Philadelphia Inquirer, where she produces paper and pixel presentations, illustrations, animations and videos. Her career has included stints as a visual storyteller, artist, designer, photographer, videographer, animator and graphics reporter; priors range from the Associated Press to CONCACAF. She hails from Oklahoma and went to college at Wichita State University.
Fernando Baptista, National Geographic Magazine
Fernando Baptista is part of the graphics team at National Geographic Magazine in Washington D.C., where he has worked since 2007. He previously worked as an illustrator and freelance designer for several years until he started working at the newspaper “El Correo” in 1993. Fernando also teaches scientific illustration in the University of the Basque Country in Spain. He was previously an associate professor at University of Navarra, Spain and has taught in many conferences and workshops around Europe, Middle East, United States and Latin America. He holds a degree in fine arts from the University of the Basque Country, Spain.
Huy Truong, South China Morning Post
Huy Truong is a senior designer at the South China Morning Post (SCMP) in Hong Kong. He oversees the Editorial Magazine Department and works on Special Publications projects. Since joining SCMP in 2016, he has received awards from WAN-IFRA, SOPA and SND. He previously worked with News Corp. in Melbourne, Australia.
Jan-Peter Thiemann, Die Zeit
Jan-Peter Thiemann is part of the design team at the weekly newspaper Die Zeit in Hamburg, Germany. His emphasis is on editorial design and typography. He worked as a graphic designer, editor, researcher; working mainly with artists and cultural institutions and for publishing houses. He studied communication design focusing on typography and book design at Muthesius Academy of Art and Design, Kiel and at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Copenhagen, Denmark. His master’s studies were focused on editorial design.
Jenn Tompkins, Texas Monthly
Jenn Tompkins is the art director, and occasional Instant Pot recipe food photographer, at Texas Monthly in Austin. She’s worked in magazine design and art direction for 14 years, with previous positions as creative director at San Antonio Magazine and Deputy Creative Director at Austin Monthly. She is originally from California, but tries not to mention that too often around Texans. After college in Virginia, she made her way to grad school in Texas and never left.
Jim Cooke, The Los Angeles Times
Jim Cooke is an art director, designer and illustrator based in Los Angeles. A veteran of digital journalism, he’s currently the senior deputy design director for the Los Angeles Times. He was previously an art director at the New York Times Book Review and creative director for Gawker Media; he has also been an editorial illustrator for print and digital publications, including The New York Times, ProPublica, Mother Jones, Defector, Slate, Vice, Data&Society and many others. Lately, he contributes regular sketchbook drawings to the writer and artist cooperative, Flaming Hydra.
Joel Cadman, The Wall Street Journal
Joel Cadman is a designer at The Wall Street Journal, where he has worked for 26 years. His assignments have ranged from features art director to news section art director. Presently, he designs WSJ’s Page One for the weekend edition, as well as interior news pages. Over the years, he has commissioned many hundreds of editorial illustrations from illustrators for WSJ. Prior to the Journal, Joel was a freelance designer and art director for various design outfits, as well as a freelance editorial illustrator for publications such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and the Village Voice, among others.
Kris Viesselman
Kris Viesselman is a creative director, editor, designer and ring leader. She has been a top editor and top creative at a number of media companies and has worked as a consultant with a wide range of clients. Kris is a past president of SND and has consulted and presented in five continents. She loves supporting and advocating for creative people.
Matthew Ericson, The New York Times
Matthew Ericson is an assistant managing editor at The New York Times, where he oversees a number of the Times’ data journalism efforts, including the Upshot, election analytics and weather data teams, as well as serving as a newsroom lead working with the cross-functional product development teams that build our publishing systems, website and apps.
Nicole Crowder, MSP Home & Design
Nicole Crowder is the editor-at-large for MSP Home & Design magazine in Minneapolis, and is a freelance writer for design publications like Aspire. She also is a furniture designer and upholsterer for her own studio, Nicole Crowder Upholstery. She has previously worked as a Senior Photo Editor for AARP The Magazine, The Washington Post, National Geographic Traveler and Netflix. Her work and story have been profiled in renowned design publications, including Architectural Digest, Elle Decor, Better Homes & Gardens, Business of Home, Domino and more. In 2022, Nicole released her first custom furniture collection with World Market.
Raju Narisetti, McKinsey & Company
Raju Narisetti is leader of global publishing at McKinsey & Company. Over a 35-year career he has created, reimagined and managed major media organizations in the U.S., Europe and Asia. Raju spent 14 years at The Wall Street Journal where he went from a reporting intern to editor of WSJ Europe, and later managing editor, digital, of the global WSJ. As managing editor of The Washington Post, Raju shaped its print/digital transformation. Raju is also the founder of India’s Mint, a national business newspaper. As a business executive, he was SVP of Strategy for News Corp., and later CEO of the Gizmodo Media Group. Prior to joining McKinsey in 2020, he was a Professor at Columbia University’s School of Journalism where he also oversaw the Knight Bagehot Fellowships in Business Journalism. Raju is a trustee of Wikimedia Foundation and on the board of Restofworld.org.
Ricardo Cervera, La República
Ricardo Cervera is an art director at La República in Lima, Peru, where he has worked since 1998. He has participated in several redesigns, the most recent of which was the relaunch of the Sunday edition this January. He also has designed magazines for institutions in Peru and edits the blog Columnas y Módulos. He graduated from Universidad Jaime Bausate y Meza’s school of journalism, but is a self-taught designer.
Richard Giliberto, The Age
Richard Giliberto is art director at The Age in Melbourne, Australia. Growing up with dreams of being a caricaturist, reality intervened and he decided to study Graphic Design instead. He originally joined The Age straight out of university in 1995, departing five years later. After stints in digital advertising, custom publishing, copywriting and freelance graphic design, he returned to The Age in 2011, serving in his current role since 2013, where on occasion, he is lucky enough to live out that childhood dream with the odd caricature.
Sara Quinn, Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communications
Sara Quinn is a design consultant, researcher and senior fellow at the Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of Minnesota. A former president of SND, Quinn taught visual journalism at The Poynter Institute for more than a decade. Her eye-tracking research helps journalists determine the best forms for storytelling across all platforms. She continues to work with the National Press Photographers Association on a study about the marriage of word and image. She also teaches workshops on the creative process and visual storytelling.
Tanya Ramirez-Ulrich, The Advocate and Times-Picayune
Tanya Ramirez-Ulrich is the sports night editor and lead designer for The Advocate and Times-Picayune, part of Capital City Press, where she has worked since 2020. She has been an editorial designer for 15 years, most of which were spent at the Gannett Nashville Design Studio designing sports sections for newspapers in Alabama, Florida, Michigan, Mississippi and Tennessee.
Vanessa Wyse, Studio Wyse
Vanessa Wyse is the founder and creative director of Studio Wyse in Toronto, Canada. She has more than 20 years experience working with some of the world’s largest media brands and institutions, including Pinterest, The Globe and Mail, Fairfax Media, The University of Toronto and Air Canada. Her experience extends from editorial strategy, redesigns, art direction, publication design — both print and digital. Previous to launching Studio Wyse, she was the founding creative director of the internationally recognized city weekly The Grid.
Wayne Kamidoi, The New York Times
Wayne Kamidoi is an art director for The New York Times, focusing on enterprise in its print hub. He was an art director in sports for more than 20 years after joining The Times from the Detroit Free Press. A graduate of Central Michigan University, Wayne is a member of its Journalism Hall of Fame.