REPORTS FROM THE CHAIRS OF
THE PANELS

THE RORY PECK AWARD FOR HARD NEWS
Mark Damazer
Deputy Director, BBC News

There was no surprise that among the record number of entries (in the Hard News Category) a great deal sprang from September 11th and its aftermath. But although the judges met soon after the anniversary of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre -and
many had seen a lot of the anniversary programming - a great deal of the material they saw still seemed fresh, shocking and almost absurdly brave.

Joseph McCarthy was heading into New York City when the first plane struck. He was alone with his camera and kept going to the World Trade Center when many would have stopped. He arrived shortly before the first tower collapsed - lost his camera - found it - and kept shooting. Joseph managed to keep his camerawork steady. What he discovered was less a scene of chaos - more a desolate, grimy and filthy epitaph to an atrocity - but he also chose to pick out the human detail among the very few others who were alive amidst the rubble.

There was one shot in this year's entries that of itself demanded recognition. Jules Naudet's story is well known. Filming a routine day in the life of the New York Fire Department became, on the programme 9/11, a record of attempted rescue, and a requiem to the firemen's courage in the foyer of the World Trade Center. But it began when Jules Naudet picked out the first plane, found it in the frame, and produced one
of the news images of all time.

The final piece on the shortlist came form the fight for the Qala-i-Jhangi fortress between Taliban prisoners and the Northern Alliance. Najibullah Quaraishi chose to film on the ramparts - and stay there for hours. His report was a scoop, showing clearly the involvement of the SAS in the fight. Najibullah's camera was destroyed, but he had changed cassettes, and thus had the most important footage. He sustained
shrapnel wounds to his head and remained in hospital for four days.

THE RORY PECK AWARD FOR FEATURES
Ann MacMillan
Bureau Chief CBC London Bureau

The criteria for the Rory Peck Award for Features require that all entrants meet exceptionally high standards. This year twenty five documentaries were submitted ranging in length from eight minutes to one hour. They covered subjects as varied as the aftermath of September 11, prostitution, animal trafficking, delinquent teenagers, refugee camps and suicide bombers. They shed light on life in regions which mainstream broadcasters often considered too dangerous to cover: East Aceh, Grozny, Iraq, Somalia. Each documentary was unique and each freelance cameraman and camerawoman met the criteria for intiative, enterprise, quality, journalistic ability and integrity.

Another criteria for this Award is "the circumstances and conditions under which the footage was shot." The difficulty involved in getting the pictures and the bravery of the camera operators involved were decisive factors. The panel of six judges was unanimous in all its choices. Three documentaries clearly stood out and here's why, in the words of the judges:

"The camera operator was lucky to be in the right place at the right time but capitalised on that luck."

"They were resourceful and created opportunities, made the best of what they had."

"They willingly and nobly got into the action in order to get the real story."

"The camera operator managed a difficult situation and brought us something new and different."

"There was a freshness and a balance which brought out the truth of a complicated story."

"It was well thought-out journalism, powerful, gripping storytelling."

It is both revealing and reassuring that all of these comments apply equally to the work of the late Rory Peck.

THE SONY INTERNATIONAL IMPACT AWARD 2002
Tony Naets
Head of News, European Broadcasting Union

"Memorable, that has made an impact and which has had an influence on policy or has changed perception." Over the next few hours, after seeing the extraordinary pictures entered for the Awards, my fellow judges and I will return often to those words.
Freelance broadcast journalists made the pictures and it is clear that they have risked their lives shooting them.

Here we now sit, in a comfortable screening room at Sony's Paris headquarters. Many of the entries covered the attack - just under a year ago - on New York's World Trade Center. We have seen this event before. Fellow judge Nik Gowing (BBC World) was on the air throughout that extraordinary day. Now we live the experience of the people who took the pictures. Jean-Marie Illouz (France 2) who has been to some really sordid places, is quiet.

Then we see the other side of this conflict - Afghanistan and the Middle East. These pictures are shot by people who, like their colleagues in New York, see what only a cameraman can see as it happens: that look of despair or fear, that movement signalling hope. These events unmask raw feelings but they only become part of the human condition when a camera is present.

We can discuss these pictures unemotionally, but by force we come back over and over again to the emotions caught on videotape. And try to see how we balance that against the other requirements of the Impact Award. The footage is memorable, but has it changed our perception, has it changed policy?

In the end we agree on a winner and two runners-up. We have no doubts about our decision, but one judge
gives the reason why: "this is an award for people who do what our organizations no longer wish to do, or what we can no longer do."