2015 multimedia judges announced


Nancy Donaldson Gauss

Nancy Donaldson Gauss is the deputy editor for video at The New York Times. In this role she works with a team of over fifty to report and produce pieces, develop new series and to coordinate large-scale projects across the newsroom. Previously, she worked as a supervising producer at CNN where her team focused on long-form documentary projects for CNN Digital, CNN and CNN International. She also worked at The Washington Post as a senior multimedia journalist.

She has served as adjunct faculty for the International Center of Photography. She has also served as an educator for international and national journalism conferences on storytelling subjects including conceptualizing narratives, photography and techniques in video editing.

Her work has received distinction from the News and Documentary Emmy Awards, the duPont Awards, World Press Photographer, the Peabody Awards, the Online News Association, the Scripps Howard Foundation, Pictures of the Year International and the National Press Photographers Association.

She graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a bachelor’s degree in journalism.


Katie Falkenberg

Katie Falkenberg is a staff photographer at the Los Angeles Times where she works as a photo and video journalist, producing both short and long-form multimedia stories. Prior to joining the Times, she was a staff photographer at The Washington Times, where she began to focus on documenting contemporary issues in America.

Katie was awarded the Robert F. Kennedy award for Domestic Photography, the Hillman Prize in Photojournalism, and the Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism for Short Form Video in 2012 for her work documenting three southern California families struggling from the lasting effects of the recession. Pictures of the Year International, the White House News Photographers Association, and the National Press Photographers Association have also recognized her photography and multimedia work. Her short film, “Uninsured in the Mississippi Delta,” won the Human Rights award at the Media That Matters film festival.


Ross Taylor

Ross is a Visiting Professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Previously, he was the inaugural fellow in the Multimedia, Photography and Design Department at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communication at Syracuse University.

His master’s project was a series of films in the local burn unit.
His professional recognitions include National Photographer of the Year, Northern Photographer of the Year, New England Photographer of the Year, Virginia Photographer of the Year and North Carolina Photographer of the Year (twice). His coverage of an Afghanistan trauma hospital garnered numerous international and national awards, and his work has also appeared twice on the cover of the Best of Photojournalism Magazine.

He is co-creator of The Image, Deconstructed.