SportsDesigner.com

2007 Sports Designer of the Year

The 2007 Best of Sports Design contest was wildly successful, with a phenomenal increase in participation from a year ago. We conclude this year's contest by revealing the 2007 Sports Designer of the Year, with this slide show:

If the above video is too low-res, click here for a full-size Quicktime video. Congratulations to our winner. The SD of the Year is a body of work award, chosen by a panel of experts from across our industry. This year's decision took nearly a month of discussion and debate to reach. We look forward to doing it again next year, and in a few days we'll do a full rundown of contest highlights, issues and questions as we move forward.

Congratulations again. Feel free to share thoughts about this year's winner in the comments field.

The 2007 Best of Sports Design competition is officially in the books.

Workin' for a living

It was a little over a week ago that I got a reality check. Maybe some of you know the feeling.
I was on a list of possible layoffs at The Seattle Times.

Since I still have a job, and I'm not the bridge-burning type, I'm not writing this to spout off. I got official word Wednesday that my position was safe, and the other folks on "the list" were safe as well. We had more than enough buyout applications (technically, it was volunteer severance).

I knew going in the door at my current job that layoffs, according to the union contract, could mainly follow seniority. Still, you don't think about that too much. You can't.

I've never worked in a union shop before. I'll avoid saying how I really feel (use your imagination).

Thing is, I've spent 13 years in the newspaper business trying to get where I'm at now. As I told the big boss, how bittersweet if that all fell apart. But that's life, especially in our biz and in 2008. Hey, I'm not that old. I don't make that much. Nobody gets rich in this.

A week ago Monday, I was in panic mode. I spent hours updating my resume, calling friends, sending emails, chasing job leads. I seriously considered how I could get out of the business. My mom had to comment, "well, maybe you can get normal hours now." Thanks.

So what did I learn?

• Have savings. Luckily, I had just plopped my tax return into my savings account.
• Keep learning. A friend has suggested I take an extension class in Web Publishing. Most of what I know I've learned through practice in this site, but some formal teaching would help. I'm also thinking of buying Adobe Flash and learning how to use it. Those are big expenses, but I think both will be worth it.
• Keep up with your professional contacts. This is when SND and all those other journalism groups come in VERY handy.
• Believe in yourself. When you get word that you are not invaluable, don't act like a jackass. I work with some great people and I can't say enough about how they stepped up for me. After a few days, I even thought, you know, if I gotta take the fall, I can handle it.

We're in a frightening era for newspapers. The monopoly money is gone. We are turning into a niche and Web advertising won't pay the freight. Be prepared. I wasn't.

Two things ...

1. Sports Designer of the Year will be revealed at 5 p.m. CDT on Saturday.

2. I'm behind on posting a few pages from Tampa and St. Pete from the Women's Final Four. Fear not. They'll get up here.

Best of SD: Editors' Choice III

Wrapping up the Best of Sports Design 2007 Editors' Choice awards, with the three toughest categories: Special Section Covers, Live Game Covers and Special Coverage. Those first two categories were the two largest ones, with 120 and 100 entries, respectively. Enjoy:

SPECIAL SECTION COVERS

Editors' Choice: Derek Simmons, Michael Whitley and Michael Hogue, Los Angeles Times, Basketball Preview.

This was a brutal category in which several SND winners did not make the final cut. The Times had two finalists in this category, putting a stamp on a stellar year by edging out the Columbus Dispatch's football preview cover in EC voting.

Complete Editors' Choice voting: Download SpecialSectionCovers.pdf
Link to category finalists.

__________________________

LIVE GAME COVERS

Editors' Choice: Vince Chiaramonte, Buffalo News, Double Trouble

Chiaramonte and the News (a headlining band at Coachella 2008, I believe) picked up eight Best of Sports Design winners this year and iced a banner year with an NHL playoff front featuring stupendous photography, smart furniture and clean typography and white space. For anybody new to SD.com this year who only things Chiaramonte does smokin' illustrations, uh, yeah, he does the news up right, too. And in EC voting this page had two more votes than the San Jose Mercury-News' front from the day after Barry Bonds broke the home run record.

Complete Editors' Choice voting: Download LiveGameCovers.pdf
Link to category finalists.

__________________________

SPECIAL COVERAGE

Editors' Choice: Michael Whitley, Robert Gauthier, George Wilhelm and Colin Crawford, L.A. Times, Stanley Cup

(Two pages from the Times' coverage. Click here for a full PDF.)

If you're keeping score, that's five EC awards for the Times in this year's contest, and three for its Stanley Cup section alone. By now, you know the story: It's a special section on the trials and travels of the most notorious trophy in sports. The Best of SD is not the only one to recognize the outstanding photography and elegant layout that went into this section. You'll see it plenty when the 29th edition book comes out from SND. In this, the only multiple-page category, the Times edged out Omaha's NCAA Tournament coverage and the Boston Globe's baseball playoffs.

Complete Editors' Choice voting: Download SpecialCoverage.pdf
Link to category finalists.

__________________________

Congratulations to all the Editors' Choice recipients, all the Best of SD 2007 winners, and to those who entered and came up short. This was a great contest to put on. It was fun to be a part of and the winners are more than deserving.

Oh, but it's not over. Stick around until this Friday when we reveal the 2007 sports designer of the year. The fun never stops. In between now and then, we'll reflect on this year's contest. We'll look ahead to next year, where the contest goes from here and what changes we'll be making. If we're back for another year, category re-alignment and re-classification is certain. And lastly, the small papers are not forgotten, and we'll come back to this topic at the same time.

Until then ...

Best of SD: Editors' Choice II

Round two of the 2007 Best of Sports Design Editors' Choice award winners. These of course are the results of the online voting by you, the SportsDesigner.com visitor, and your colleagues. Today, we have three winners in four categories. What can that possibly mean? Read on.

ENTERPRISE/FEATURE CENTERPIECE

Editors' Choice: Noah Musser, Kansas City Star., Red All Over

A favorite among SD.com visitors in 2007, the integration of the paper's furniture pushed this illustration of which is THE baseball team in Missouri over the top, and in a large and tough category, this entry ran away with the votes, the only time this happened in this year's contest.

Here is the complete Editors' Choice voting: Download EnterpriseCP.pdf
Link to the finalists.

____________________

PHOTO PAGES/POSTERS
and SPECIAL SECTION/ENTERPRISE INSIDE PAGES

Editors' Choice: Robert Gauthier, George Wilhem, Colin Crawford and Michael Whitley, L.A. Times, Stanley Cup.

In a first for the Best of Sports Design, one entry wins in two categories. The photo spread, which ran as part of the L.A. Times' special section on the travels of the Stanley Cup, very narrowly edged out a pair of entries from the Denver Post in the photo pages category, and then turned around and very narrowly edged out the Omaha World-Herald and Miami Herald in the special section inside pages category.

Editors' Choice voting for photo pages/posters: Download PhotoPagePoster.pdf
Editors' Choice voting for special section inside pages: Download EnterpriseInsidePages.pdf
Link to the photo/poster finalists.
Link to the special section inside pages finalists.

____________________

LIVE GAME INSIDE PAGES

Editors' Choice: Tim Parks, Omaha World-Herald, Bonds Hits 756

One of a dozen or so full pages on Barry Bonds breaking the record beats out another Bonds page — from the Dallas Morning News — in online voting to score another victory for the planned live pages. My observation of this page is that it was Parks' brainchild from start to finish, and in addition to the design, he did most of the research and writing for the page as well.

Complete Editors' Choice voting: Download LiveGameInsidePages.pdf
Link to the finalists.

____________________

Congratulations to all the Editors' Choice so far. Tomorrow, we'll reveal the EC awards for special coverage, live game covers and special section covers, and we'll do a wrapup of the 2007 contest and assess where we go from here. And stay tuned later on this week when we reveal the 2007 sports designer of the year and put a second Best of SD to bed.