Weaving a Stronger Society — Starting in Our Schools
2022 Visual Storytelling (Smaller Newsroom) Winners
Jim Fields, Emmeline Zhao, Laura Fay & Meghan Gallagher, The 74
About the Winners:
The 74’s team traveled America in search of “weaver” educators — those teachers and mentors successfully knitting together school and community every day to help students succeed in both class and life — and, in turn, bolstering their communities.
They partnered with The Aspen Institute’s “Weave: The Social Fabric Project” to embark on this cross-country quest to recognize community builders within education. “Weave: The Social Fabric Project” addresses what its founder David Brooks calls a broken social trust that has left Americans divided, isolated and unable to address common needs.
The resulting package, “Weaving a Stronger Society — Starting in Our Schools,” profiled 12 incredible individuals in education through video, photo, and text. At the core of this project were the visual elements, with two profiles being published as standalone documentaries. Several other text profiles were accompanied by short films that paired narrative with visuals that helped readers step foot into these educators’ worlds and classrooms.
Comments From the Judges:
“The storytelling is crafted well, with excellent narrative editing, strategically selected b-roll visuals, and an overall great variety of sources for b-roll including interviews, archival news footage, and images from national press outlets. The “weaving” of the project visuals with in-depth interview audio is done very well. It guides audiences effectively through the numerous, multi-geographic stories, introducing us to a diverse range of educators who are making a difference in their communities while explaining why building bridges through education is necessary at this moment in time.”
“Good interview background. Good lighting. Great use of low depth of field. Opening of audio was good. I love the variety of your video and how you make me feel like I’m there. I love how you break this big story into smaller pieces. Some impressive storytelling here with solid audio and great video.”
Photo credits: Courtesy of Megan Helberg
