SND38: Summary of the competition

  • March 10, 2017
Society for News Design

Led by a New York Times photo entry that earned Best in Show recognition, judges gave out more than 1,100 awards in the 38th edition of the SND Best of News Design creative competition, held in February at the Coliseum in St. Petersburg, Fla.

The New York Times for its single-day photo series, ‘They Are Slaughtering Us Like Animals.’ This is what the judges had to say:

“The photographer has an incredible ability to take you into the corners and into the center. In every part of the photograph, there’s something to capture your eye. There’s a woman just sitting in the 7-Eleven … her hands wiping a tear. Another image where the person is just walking away … photos taken in difficult lighting situations. It takes incredible finesse to get the comfort level with subjects and the police force. These images will be burned into your psyche. You won’t be able to get away from them.”

It is the second straight year The New York Times has earned Best in Show, and its fourth time overall.

In total, 1,147 awards were given out, up from 906 awards in the previous edition.

Compared with previous years, the judges were generous: the number of awards represents 17% of the 6,671 total entries. This includes 1,062 Awards of Excellence, 71 Silver Medals, 8 Gold Medals, and 4 Judges’ Special Recognitions.

Judges also have decided on the winners of the World’s Best Designed Newspaper prizes, which will be announced at the SND Annual Workshop & Exhibition in Charlotte in April. They will come from among the 12 finalists:

North State Journal, Raleigh, North Carolina
Der Freitag, Berlin, Germany
Politico Europe, Brussels, Belgium
WeMedia01, Hong Kong
Público, Lisbon, Portugal
Het Parool, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
The Villages Daily Sun, The Villages, Florida
Politiken, Copenhagen, Denmark
The Guardian, London
The Washington Post, Washington, D.C.
Die Zeit, Hamburg, Germany
The New York Times, New York

Unofficial results, with a searchable database of all the winners, are posted here. The top 10 award winners, according to the unofficial tally:

Washington Post
Los Angeles Times
The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer
The New York Times
National Post (Canada)
Minneapolis Star Tribune
National Geographic Magazine
Buffalo News
Omaha World-Herald
El Telégrafo (Ecuador)