Merry Murray (KSNW) TV BOP Chair
Merry Murray is in her fifth year as the Best of Photojournalism Television contest chair.
Merry has been a photojournalist for over 16 years, starting in her home state of Kansas, working in Wichita at both KAKE-TV and KSNW-TV. After 2 years, she was looking for a new challenge and moved on to WTVQ-TV in Lexington, Kentucky, where she was able to cover events like the Kentucky Derby.
Merry also worked at WZZM in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where she was the Vice President of the Michigan TV News Photographers Association (MTNPA)
Following too many cold Michigan winters, Merry moved on to work at WKRN-TV in Nashville, Tennessee. But after 3 years she decided to move closer to family and moved back to her hometown of Great Bend, Kansas where she worked at KSNC-TV, a bureau for KSNW-TV in Wichita. For 3 years she shot, wrote, and produced commercials and news. After marrying in 1994, Merry was able to move in with her husband, Wayne, by transferring to KSNW-TV and working as a photojournalist in Wichita. One of the highlights of her time back in Wichita was a trip to the Middle East with a group from McConnell Air Force Base.
Merry Murray has been an NPPA volunteer for more than 15 years. She recently ended a term as the Region 7 Associate Director. She has served as a Quarterly Contest Chair in three regions for over 11 years. Merry is also the Co-Chair and National Judging Coordinator for the TV Quarterly Contest.
During her career, Merry has won numerous awards in Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, and Tennessee, including NPPA Quarterly Contest awards and Emmy nomination’s.
Merry and her husband Wayne live in Wichita with their two “sons,” a West Highland Terrier, Buster, and a Black Lab, Dakota.
Ram Guzman (KTVT) Editing Chair
Ram Guzman has served as the Chief Editor at KTVT, the CBS O & O in Dallas/Ft. Worth since 2002. He began his career in 1999 at KRIS-TV in Corpus Christi shortly after graduating from Texas A&M-Kingsville. In his career, Ram has won several NPPA BOP editing awards, 2 Emmys, 4 Press Club of Dallas Katies, and several Texas AP Broadcasters awards. In 2003, he served as a BOP TV Editing contest judge.
This is his third year as the Best of Photojournalism TV Editing Chair.
Terry Bulger (WSMV) Photography Judge
Terry Bulger is most at home wandering the Middle Tennessee backroads in search of the great characters that make up this state. Lots of people say he likes to find the unusual, but in some ways what he does find isn’t always that strange. It’s just real.
If you ever feel that you have to do something bad these days to get on the news, what Terry does is prove every day that doesn’t have to be the case.
His stories are a mix of peach seed carvers, blues guitarists, humble hog farmers and clown conventions. In a way his stories are like a box of chocolates, “You never know what you’re gonna get.”
Terry attended the University of Missouri in Columbia and graduated with a Bachelor of Journalism degree. He received the Chick Evans Scholarship awarded to hard working caddy’s who spent much of their young lives on golf courses.
He spent three summers as a beer and hot dog vendor at Chicago’s Wrigley Field and Comiskey Park, taking a pay cut to pursue a career in television.
Terry worked in Amarillo, Texas and Cedar Rapids, Iowa before coming to Nashville in 1990. He has won 12 Emmy Awards, an Iris Award from the National Association of Television Programming Executives,and more than a dozen other regional honors for best feature story and best writing.
He has interviewed everyone from Presidents to Michael Jordan, covered plane crashes and droughts, but most remembers the modest folks he meets each day along Tennessee’s backroads.
As Terry likes to say, ” They may not be the big story, but they often are the best story.”
Brad Ingram (WGHP) Editing Judge
You may already know Brad Ingram from his stint as co-chair of the TV Quarterly Clip Contest and most recently the chair of The Cutting Edge contest. This is the second time I’ve been asked to judge BOP. The last time was back in 2003 when I help judged the TV Photography side of the contest.
I’m looking forward to using my 14 years of experience as a photographer/editor along with my vast judging experience to help award this year BOP on the editing side.
I started my career in Erie, Pennsylvania at WICU only to upgrade a few years later to WROC in Rochester, New York. Back in 2000 I had a chance to join the staff of WGHP here in High Point, North Carolina. Since then I’ve attended the NPPA Workshop, been apart of our station staff being named Medium Station of the Year back in 2005. And most recently in 2007 being named Co-Photograher of the Year here in Region 6.
Scott Jensen (KTUU) Ernie Crisp Photographer of the Year Photgraphy Judge
Scott Jensen understands his skills and knowledge are not his own. During his first three years at KTUU-TV in Anchorage, and nearly five years at KARE-TV in Minneapolis, Scott was able to glean wisdom and technique from some of the best storytellers local news has to offer. Now he feels a responsibility to pass it on. In sharing his experiences Scott hopes the overall quality of television news will improve. He believes there’s no limit to what can be accomplished in photojournalism.
Scott credits his success in part to working well with reporters and finding the right balance between a story’s visual structure and natural moments. Actually that’s an understatement; really he’s obsessed with capturing natural moments. He attempts to highlight everyday human behavior in his work every day. “To me, television news photography is all about building relationships with people,” Scott says. “You may only get to spend twenty minutes with someone, but those twenty minutes may be the most significant time in his or her life. If a person can’t trust you quickly, you may lose your chance to tell their story.”
After growing up in Anchorage, Alaska, Scott moved to Oregon in 1993 to attend college. He interned at KATU-TV in Portland, Oregon and graduated from George Fox University, in Newberg, Oregon, in 1996 with a degree in communications/video production. From June 1996-1999, Scott was back in Anchorage and serving as a photographer for KTUU. In July of 1999, he moved to Minnesota to work for KARE. After leaving KARE in December of 2003, Scott briefly worked at Northwest Cable News in Portland, OR. He left television altogether in April of 2004 to try his hand in construction management. In September of 2005 Scott returned once again to his roots; Alaskan TV. He currently helps lead KTUU’s motivated photography staff as Director of Photography.
In 2006 and 2008, KTUU was honored as NPPA Small Market Station of the Year.
Over his twelve year career, Scott has won more than 100 awards including five Murrows and nine Emmys. He contributed to KARE winning Station of the Year in 2000. Scott was NPPA Region 5 Photographer of the Year for 2001 and 2002, he was the NPPA Region 11 Photographer of the Year for 2006 and 2007, and he was an Ernie Crisp Finalist in 2002.
Scott’s greatest individual achievements came in 2003 and 2008 when he was named the Ernie Crisp Television Photographer of the Year.
Jon Knorr (KOMO) Photography Judge
Jon Knorr has been a News Photographer for 22 years, the last 12 for KOMO in Seattle. He graduated from San Jose State University and made a bee-line for the coast. He began his career it KMST in Monterey followed by KSBW in Salinas. Growing tired of the overcast skies he moved with his wife and two daughters, to the land of liquid sunshine. Jon has been honored with many awards, including Emmys Murrows and NPPA awards.
Terry Lovell (Freelance Editor) Editing Judge
Terry Lovell is entering his twentieth year in television production. Since July of 2008, he has worked as a freelance editor with Serious Robots in Raleigh, North Carolina. There he has been the editor on multiple episodes of Jon and Kate Plus 8, Then Came Six, and Six for the Road for TLC and The Discovery Channel.
Currently, he is finishing up a soon-to-be-aired series for Animal Planet.
Prior to that, Terry spent seven years as the Senior Avid Editor for Fox Sports Net Southwest where he was honored with multiple EMMY, TELLY, and KATIE award nominations winning one each.
From 1995-2000 Terry was a news editor for KTVT in Dallas, Texas. He was also the editor of The Mark Cuban Show for UPN 21/ HDNet.
When not working, Terry, his wife Heather, and their two golden retrievers Ellie and Mattie love hiking through the parks of their new home state, North Carolina.
Shane McEachern (WTXF) Photography Judge
Shane McEachern has been a photojournalist since 1996. He is a two time Region 9 NPPA Photographer of the Year, two time KUSA SOY member, and has won over 100 awards including Emmy’s and a regional Edward R Murrow Award for Feature Story in 2005-6. After stints at WGAL, WESH, and KUSA he is currently a Special Projects photographer at WTXF, Fox-29 in Philadelphia.
Tom Sharkey (WWSB) Photography Judge
Tom Sharkey grew up in Dayton Ohio, went to the University of Dayton in the late 70’s. Film & Photography major, first job was with the NFL Cincinnati Bengals shooting practice & game film. Then became the Assistant Film Director for the team and began to work closely with NFL Films in covering them. That’s where I learned to “capture the moment”, and to tell a story through emotion.
Joined WDTN-TV the ABC affiliate in Dayton in the mid-80’s as a Photojournalist. In 1990 went to work for WFTV the ABC affiliate in Orlando, FL as a Sports Photographer, then promoted to Assistant Chief Photographer in the mid 90’s. Left WFTV in 2001 to work at a start-up cable news operation near Orlando then in 2003 became the Chief Photojournalist at WWSB-TV the ABC station in Sarasota, FL.
My wife Vicki and I have 3 beautiful daughters: Erin 26, Rebecca 25, & Jennifer 16. We reside in Orlando and I commute back & forth to Sarasota on the weekends.
Awards: 8 Emmy’s, several National Telly’s, a couple of Edward R. Murrows, numerous awards from the Ohio News Photographers Association, the Central Florida Press Club & Florida Sportscasters Association & numerous clip awards from the NPPA, including an NPPA National 1st place award for 48hr Feature in 2006 and named Region Six Co-Photojournalist-of-the-Year in 2007.
