{"id":21864,"date":"2021-09-08T10:47:48","date_gmt":"2021-09-08T14:47:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mediastorm.com\/blog\/?p=21864"},"modified":"2023-09-13T18:01:25","modified_gmt":"2023-09-13T22:01:25","slug":"how-pictures-of-the-year-and-college-photographer-of-the-year-elevated-their-presentation-using-the-mediastorm-platform","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mediastorm.com\/blog\/2021\/09\/08\/how-pictures-of-the-year-and-college-photographer-of-the-year-elevated-their-presentation-using-the-mediastorm-platform\/","title":{"rendered":"How Pictures of the Year and College Photographer of the Year elevated their presentation using the MediaStorm Platform"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I have a long history with the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.poy.org\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pictures of the Year<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/cpoy.org\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">College Photographer of the Year<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> contests.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They have been guiding pillars throughout my 27-year career as they set the standard for <\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">quality visual storytelling. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/mediastorm.com\/blog\/2021\/09\/08\/pictures-of-the-year-and-college-photographer-of-the-year-have-been-guiding-pillars-of-my-career\/\">I took a walk down memory lane and put together the back story.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is fitting\u2014as MediaStorm enters our next chapter, with the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/tools.mediastorm.com\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">MediaStorm Platform<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> as a central element of our strategy\u2014that these two contests are some of our first public implementations of this powerful new toolset.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I sat down with the directors of each contest, CPOY\u2019s <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/journalism.missouri.edu\/people\/jackie-bell\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jackie Bell<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and POY\u2019s <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/journalism.missouri.edu\/people\/lynden-steele\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lynden Steele<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, to discuss how the MediaStorm Platform supports their vision for the future.<\/span><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom: calc(56.25% + 160px); position: relative;\"><iframe style=\"position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%;\" src=\"https:\/\/embeds.mediastorm.com\/03vl\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<h2><strong>Challenges<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">POY &amp; CPOY were running custom, hand-built sites that were maintained by student volunteers. Of course, those students eventually graduate and the custom code that required unique knowledge to maintain was hard to transfer from one semester to the next.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Both POY and CPOY wanted to:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Find an easy to use and modern toolset to present the best photography in the world.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Solve inefficiencies created by high student turnover and custom code<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Create synergies between POY and CPOY offering<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Support future integrations with POY Latam and POY Asia<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>Solution<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/cpoy.org\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">CPOY<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the entire hand-built site was replaced with a single responsive website release using the MediaStorm Platform.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cpoy.org\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/mediastorm-newsletter.s3.amazonaws.com\/cpoy.jpg\" width=\"100%\" \/><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.poy.org\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">POY<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> utilized a series of embeddable players to showcase the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.poy.org\/78\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">winning images<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Locator maps, related links and direct links to license images have been added to many of the images to provide greater context and transactional benefits to the photographers.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><a href=\"https:\/\/www.poy.org\/78\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/mediastorm-newsletter.s3.amazonaws.com\/2021_POY_Slideshow.jpg\" width=\"100%\" \/><\/a><strong>Results<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Improved image size and site responsiveness<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Related information and context or each image<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Consistent top-level branding and promotion of sponsors and partners<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Improved site-wide navigation created a path for showcasing over 75 years of results<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Entire site is embeddable with deep linking<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A more inspired and unified team<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Covers<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The MediaStorm Platform supports <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">covers<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, in a variety of layouts, to provide compelling visual entry points to content. CPOY\u2019s <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/cpoy.org\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">homepage<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/cpoy.org\/winners-gallery\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Winners Gallery<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> have grid covers to position the overall offering. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.poy.org\/78\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">POY<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> used covers for each of the story and portfolio categories. <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cpoy.org\/winners-gallery\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/mediastorm-newsletter.s3.amazonaws.com\/CPOY_Winners_Gallery.jpg\" width=\"100%\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Slideshows<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Photographers and organizations are linked to help drive more awareness to their work.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In some cases, the location of the image, the judges\u2019 commentary and links to license the image are shown in the sidebar.<\/span><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/cpoy.org\/winners-gallery\/cpoy-75-winners\/cpoy-75-documentary\/cpoy-75-documentary-silver\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/mediastorm-newsletter.s3.amazonaws.com\/CPOY_Slideshow.jpg\" width=\"100%\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Screencasts Playlist<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Over 25 hours of <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/cpoy.org\/screencasts\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">screencast<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> video of the judging process is available in a playlist.<\/span><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/mediastorm-newsletter.s3.amazonaws.com\/CPOY_Screencast.jpg\" width=\"100%\" \/><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">New Features added<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Ability to batch edit metadata:<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A major component of both organizations\u2019 publishing workflows involves adding related metadata for each image. In some cases, that metadata is the same across multiple images. To help accelerate this task, we added the ability to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/mediastorm.zendesk.com\/hc\/en-us\/articles\/1500008005461-Copying-Metadata-Between-Items\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Copy Metadata Between Items<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Ability to customize site navigation:<\/strong> By default, a <a href=\"https:\/\/mediastorm.zendesk.com\/hc\/en-us\/articles\/360039275033\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener\">Website Release<\/a> will display a navigation that is generated automatically based on the structure of the &#8220;Content&#8221; panel in the release. However, you may choose to enable <a href=\"https:\/\/mediastorm.zendesk.com\/hc\/en-us\/articles\/4404789021207-Customize-Website-Navigation\"><strong>custom navigation<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0via the &#8220;Navigation&#8221; panel of a release for finer-grained control.<\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lynden Steele, Director, Pictures of the Year<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/mediastorm-newsletter.s3.amazonaws.com\/bio-lynden-steele-195x245.jpg\" width=\"245\" height=\"195\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cSo many platforms treat visual stories as an afterthought, or as something to be attached like a decoration. With the MediaStorm Platform, the visuals are the story. It recognizes and honors the needs of visual storytelling.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Since its beginning in 1944, POY has been staffed by students. They learn about photojournalism through the competition. The MediaStorm Platform equips our students with cutting edge skills. I\u2019m excited that they can use the toolset because it will equip them with a sophisticated skill set as they start their careers. It\u2019s even intuitive enough that I can teach it to new students every year.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The MediaStorm Platform will allow POY to focus more of our future effort on the photographers\u2019 work. We can add an incredible amount of context to the photographers\u2019 work that will make visiting the POY site much more valuable.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">n some systems I feel like you have to create work around techniques in order to present visual content well. With the MediaStorm Platform, it\u2019s a straight-forward process. The toolset is really responsive. I can see my changes quickly and I feel like my effort is rewarded.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jackie Bell, Director, College Photographer of the Year<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/mediastorm-newsletter.s3.amazonaws.com\/bio-jackie-bell-195x245.jpg\" width=\"245\" height=\"195\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIt is an incredible platform for visual storytellers. The visuals are treated well and look fantastic.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I use the platform as a website because I needed a new, modern site to display our award-winning images.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I&#8217;m able to attach related content to the Winners Gallery in a way I&#8217;ve never done. Now, after posting videos, screencasts and graphics on social media, I can permanently place them next to the winning entries as related content.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The covers look beautiful and offer another level of navigation. One of my favorite new features is linking the photographers&#8217; websites to their winning work to give them greater recognition.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The tools are easy to use. I can control my website myself, and for the first time I don&#8217;t need a coder on staff.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I also look forward to adding tools as we continue to add content. I&#8217;m excited about timelines and maps, which we will begin adding in the fall.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mediastorm.com\/blog\/2021\/09\/08\/pictures-of-the-year-and-college-photographer-of-the-year-have-been-guiding-pillars-of-my-career\/\"><strong>You can learn more about how Pictures of the Year and College Photographer of the Year have been guiding pillars of my career.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Want to improve the way you present your story?<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Get the <a href=\"https:\/\/tools.mediastorm.com\">MediaStorm Platform<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/tools.mediastorm.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"https:\/\/tools.mediastorm.com noopener noreferrer\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-21693 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/mediastorm.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/MediaStorm_Platform_Master.jpg\" alt=\"The MediaStorm Platform\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mediastorm.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/MediaStorm_Platform_Master.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/www.mediastorm.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/MediaStorm_Platform_Master-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.mediastorm.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/MediaStorm_Platform_Master-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.mediastorm.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/MediaStorm_Platform_Master-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.mediastorm.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/MediaStorm_Platform_Master-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.mediastorm.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/MediaStorm_Platform_Master-1280x720.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/tools.mediastorm.com\">https:\/\/tools.mediastorm.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It is fitting\u2014as MediaStorm enters our next chapter, with the MediaStorm Platform as a central element of our strategy\u2014that these two contests are some of our first public implementations of this powerful new toolset.<\/p>\n<p><P>I sat down with the directors of each contest, CPOY\u2019s Jackie Bell and POY\u2019s Lynden Steele, to discuss how the MediaStorm Platform supports their vision for the future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":22254,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21864","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mediastorm-announcements","entry","has-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mediastorm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21864","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mediastorm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mediastorm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mediastorm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mediastorm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21864"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.mediastorm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21864\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22253,"href":"https:\/\/www.mediastorm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21864\/revisions\/22253"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mediastorm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mediastorm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mediastorm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mediastorm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}