NPPA Awards for Best Video & Multimedia

Congrats to all winners of the National Press Photographers Association's Best of Photojournalism awards in the Web categories. Many of these also won top awards in the recent Pictures of the Year International competition.

It should come as no surprise that nearly all of these prestigious award-winners were previously showcased on KobreGuide to the Web's Best Videojournalism.

Lesson: if you want to see next year's award winners, no need to wait. Just follow KobreGuide.com, where you'll find the best videojournalism every day.

(SPECIAL NOTE: This week on KobreGuide, we'll be showcasing the winners of NPPA's TV News video categories, in case you missed them.)

Special congratulations go out to the grand prizewinners, representing the tops in their respective categories:

* UNC Chapel Hill, producers of the Best Multimedia Package: Powering a Nation, and the judges' pick for the overall Best Use of the Web award

* Washington Post, producers of the Best Video: Mexico At War

* LA Times, producers of the Best Audio Slideshow: Waiting to Die
(NOTE: Also see KobreGuide's exclusive Q&A with its creator, Liz O. Baylen.)

And here are the rest of the best of the Website winners:

AWARDS KEY:

INDE winners are for Web sites not affiliated with, or supported by, a news organization;

UNDER winners are for Web sites that are affiliated with a major media organization and whose site has fewer than 2.5 million unique page view per month;

OVER winners are for Web sites that are affiliated with a major media organization and whose site has more than 2.5 million unique page view per month.

HM = Honorable Mention

+++++++

VIDEO:

"Video storytelling produced for the Web, that takes advantage of the strengths of the medium and manages its weaknesses."

DOCUMENTARY VIDEO WINNERS:

INDE

1st Leveling Appalachia: The Legacy of Mountaintop Removal
Yale e360/milesfrommaybe productions/MediaStorm

2nd Battle for the Mountains
UNC Chapel Hill

3rd Driftless: Stories from Iowa
MediaStorm

HM Wasteland
http://www.bombayfc.com

HM Facing Deportation
http://eileenmignoni.com/

UNDER

1st What Will Happen to Andy?
AARP Bulletin Today

2nd Killer Blue: Baptized by Fire
Associated Press

3rd From Baghdad to San Jose
San Jose Mercury News

OVER

1st Mexico at War
The Washington Post

2nd $5 Cover Amplified: Ben Nichols: Hold Fast
http://5dollarcoveramplified.com/

3rd Determined Divas
DemocratandChronicle.com

HM Motown at 50
Detroit Free Press

HM Final Edition
Rocky Mountain News

HM Trapped under the sea
The Boston Globe

HM Ted Kennedy: A life in politics
The Boston Globe

+++++++

FEATURE VIDEO:

INDE

1st Family Kocktail
MediaStorm

2nd Roping the Wind in Texas
UNC Chapel Hill

3rd A Life Alone
www.maisiecrow.com

HM Hold Out
Mediastorm Workshops

UNDER

1st Uninsured in the Mississippi Delta
The Washington Times

2nd Silverton Saves Its Paper
AARP Bulletin Today

3rd Disabled in Vietnam
The San Jose Mercury News

OVER

1st Scene In
The Washington Post

2nd Real Florida Stories
St. Petersburg Times / tampabay.com

3rd My Kidney, His Life
The Washington Post

HM The Scar
www.sun-sentinel.com

+++++++

NEWS VIDEO:

INDE:

No Winners

UNDER

HM Vigil for teen crash victim
The Spokesman-Review

OVER

1st 1 corner, 3 places to buy Starbucks
Houston Chronicle

2nd Carrier of the Economy
Detroit Free Press

3rd Mexico at War: Addicts Latest Victims of Drug War
The Washington Post

HM In the Moment: Witnessing Barack Obama's Historic Inauguration
The Washington Post

+++++++

SPORTS VIDEO:

INDE:

No Winners

UNDER

1st A Boxing Revival at Coast Guard
The Day

2nd Coaching With Cancer
Las Vegas Sun

HM A Passion For Gymnastics
Las Vegas Sun

HM Ready To Rumble
TimesDaily

OVER

1st Seattle Semi Pro
The Seattle Times

2nd Demolition Derby: Crash for Clunkers
TIME.com

3rd Art of the Autograph
Detroit Free Press

+++++++

SLIDESHOW:

"Audio-enhanced photographic story-telling presented in a gallery or slideshow format. Animation can be used only to advance from one photograph to another. The emphasis here is on presenting great News, Sports and Feature photographs with the additional level of detail that audio can provide. There is no video allowed in this category."

FEATURE AUDIO SLIDESHOW:

INDE

1st 'A Life Pretty Full of Love' Act 1
www.kevinwellenius.com

2nd Stepping Up
LucidPix

3rd Mishoka's Story
duckrabbit

HM My name is Dechen
www.dhirajsingh.com

HM Inside New York Fashion Week
Pontus Hook Photography

UNDER

1st Living Off the Land
The News & Advance

2nd One Thing at a Time
Fairfax County Times

3rd Metamorphosis
The Salt Lake Tribune

HM From Chicks to Table
The News & Advance

OVER

1st Waiting to Die
Los Angeles Times

2nd A Boy's Struggles
Los Angeles Times

3rd Motel Manor: Suburban homelessness in St. Charles County
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

HM Gimme Shelter
Los Angeles Times

HM St. Louis WWII veterans remembered 60 years later with Honor Flight
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

HM Comforting a Death in Prison
The New York Times

+++++++


NEWS AUDIO SLIDESHOW:

INDE

2nd Beyond Bangladesh
duckrabbit

3rd Fighting a War of IED's in Afghanistan's Deadly Tangi Valley
David Goldman, freelance for the Associated Press

HM Mexico Swine Flu: The Christ of Health
www.chicosanchez.com

UNDER

2nd A Dream Realized
AARP

3rd Fleeing Somalia
GlobalPost

HM Afghanistan's Fog of War
GlobalPost.com

OVER

1st Frozen Land, Forgotten People
Los Angeles Times

2nd Tracking Smugglers
Los Angeles Times

3rd "America's Battalion in Afghanistan"
NPR

HM Sen. Kennedy's Life and Career, 1932 - 2009
The Washington Post

HM An Ambush and a Comrade Lost
The New York Times

HM Afghanistan's "Lucky Dustoff" Medevac
NPR

+++++++

SPORTS AUDIO SLIDESHOW :

INDE

2nd Oh Chute!
www.jasonmckibben.com

3rd One way out. Boxing in Mexico.
http://www.chicosanchez.com

HM Paintball Pursuit
Ohio University School of Visual Communication

UNDER

1st 2009 Yukon Quest
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

2nd The schools are tiny. The game is huge.
Austin American-Statesman

3rd Give Blood, Play Rugby.
The News & Advance

HM The Infamous 17th
Midland Daily News

OVER

1st Greyhound Park Closing
azcentral.com/The Arizona Republic

2nd The Pit
Los Angeles Times

HM The Ultimate Race
azcentral.com/The Arizona Republic

+++++++

NEWS OR FEATURE MULTIMEDIA

INDE

1st Powering a Nation
UNC Chapel Hill

2nd Soul of Athens
Ohio University School of Visual Communication

3rd Murray, Kentucky
Mountain Workshops

HM Facing Deportation
http://eileenmignoni.com/

HM Living Galapagos: Battle for Balance Between Man and Nature
University of North Carolina

UNDER

1st Times of Crisis
reuters.com/timesofcrisis

2nd Surviving the Tsunami
Thomson Reuters and the IFRC in partnership with MediaStorm

3rd Life, Death and the Taliban
Globalpost.com

HM 2009 Iditarod
Anchorage Daily News

HM Bottoming Out
The Las Vegas Sun

OVER

1st Ted Kennedy. (A seven-part multimedia series and book by the Boston Globe, published in February 2009, six months before the Senator's death.)
The Boston Globe

2nd One in 8 Million
The New York Times

3rd LA CIUDAD QUE NO DUERME
www.elpais.com.co

HM Motown at 50
Detroit Free Press

+++++++

In several cases, the judges did not make awards at all after finding entries to be below the minimum bar of excellence for which this contest stands. In other cases, they chose not to award a first place but included subsequent places for work that was the best in the category. It is our hope that in these situations, the entries that did place will be closely examined so as to establish a benchmark for the level of excellence in storytelling we seek.

Tomorrow on KobreChannel: The judges explain their choices, and reveal what qualities they look for.

NPPA BOP Judging Begins Today for Websites

Judging begins today for the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA) Best of Photojournalism Awards for Website categories. "The goal of this contest is to recognize the best visual journalism being produced online."

Categories include:

* Audio Slideshows

Audio-enhanced collections of still photographs presented in a gallery or slideshow format, that tell a clear story. This category is for still photography combined with audio only. There is no video allowed in this category. Subcategories: News, Feature, Sports, Natural Disaster.

* Multimedia Package

Highlights the use of audio, video and animation in the presentation of web-based stories. Judges will pay special attention to the use of available technology to complement and enhance the art of visual storytelling. Entries may include single galleries, slideshows or video, as well as packages that include multiple elements that were grouped and published together as a single story or theme. Content, usability, and interactivity are key to this celebration of cutting-edge storytelling. Subcategories: News or Feature, Natural Disaster.

* News Video

A story that covers a planned or unplanned news event or a subject of general interest and importance. It can be spot news or a follow up or side bar to spot news. The event should be timely. The entry should contain no music, except where it's part of the natural sound of the story. Stories must have been shot, edited, and posted on the web within 48 hours. Maximum viewing time: 10 minutes.

* Feature Video

A feature or human interest story, or series of stories. Maximum viewing time: 20 minutes.

* Sports Video

A planned story or series of stories about the preparation for, analysis of, or audience reaction to a sport, or coverage of a sporting event. Greater weight will be given to stories that have sports action video and focus on the competition. Maximum viewing time: 20 minutes.

* Documentary Video

A planned story or series of stories about a subject of general interest and importance, where the photojournalist has put considerable time and effort into the production of the entry. Documentaries must show imagination and creativity in story choice, execution and editing. Maximum viewing time: 30 minutes.

* Natural Disaster Video

A feature or human interest story, news story, or series of stories related to coverage of the natural disasters in 2009. Maximum viewing time: 20 minutes.

* Special Awards

Once the judging for the Audio Slideshow, Web Video, and Multimedia categories is complete, the winners will go head-to-head to determine the absolute best of web photojournalism. The winner will demonstrate a mastery of photographic and visual storytelling in an online environment. Content, interface design, navigation, and interactivity will all be evaluated to find the site or multimedia team that best furthers the evolution of online visual journalism. Categories: Best Audio Slideshow, Best Web Video, Best Use of Multimedia, Best Use of the Web.

We'll be posting some of the winners on KobreGuide -- where you can bet many have been showcased since their original publication!

This week KobreGuide will showcase some of the NPPA BOP winners in the News Video Photography division, which was judged earlier this month. Because more TV news outlets are migrating versions of their broadcast segments to the Web, contest officials acknowledge that there are increasingly overlaps in many of the News Video and Website categories -- which we predict will consolidate before long, like the industries themselves.

Meanwhile, take a look at last year's NPPA BOP winners in the Web categories.

Colin Mulvany's Useful Multimedia Tips

Just a heads up that Colin Mulvany, multimedia producer extraordinaire at Spokane's Spokesman-Review, has rounded up links to the "useful tips" he's published intermittently on his Mastering Multimedia blog.

Many of my old posts that deal with tips about how to do video storytelling and audio slideshows get linked on a lot of blogs used by college professors who teach digital media classes. Most of these posts are buried amongst my pontifications about the changes facing the newspaper industry. So for anyone interested, here is a roundup of my best multimedia suggestions and useful tip posts in one place…

Topics include:

* How to make your audio slideshows better
* Great audio starts in the field
* How best to approach a video story
* Sequencing: The foundation of video storytelling
* How to make your video editing easier
* Get creative with your video camera
* Opening your video: How not to lose viewers
* Random Final Cut tip: Lower thirds titles
* What we can learn from TV new shooters

Go learn from the best!

KobreGuide Awards: Best of 2009

It's awards season, and we're joining the party by announcing the first annual KobreGuide Awards, for the best videojournalism projects of 2009.

On February 15, we'll be announcing winners in each of our 20 KobreGuide topics (see list below). And we'll also be selecting winners for each of these 5 categories:

* Videojournalist of the Year
* Best videojournalism story
* Best videojournalism package or series
* Best audio slideshow
* Best student project

Each of these winners will receive a Lightscoop plus some other goodies to be announced shortly. (And if you don't already know what a Lightscoop is, get yourself over to Lightscoop.com and start salivating.)

We'll also be awarding a grand prize to the KobreGuide Videojournalist of the Year, and as you'll see next week when we officially reveal it, this one is going to be pretty sweet.

We're going through the 250+ stories we showcased on KobreGuide in 2009, and we're inviting your input. Please let us know what your favorite videojournalism and multimedia pieces were from last year. You can select them from KobreGuide or anywhere else online.

Be sure to first read the KobreGuide criteria -- what we look for in selecting stories.

Whoever submits for our consideration the most entries that become KobreGuide prizewinners will also receive a Lightscoop (retail value $35).

Here are the KobreGuide "Topic Channels". Again, we're looking for the best story in each category, which was originally published in 2009, so please let us know your personal favorites:

Adventure
Animals
Arts
Business
Education
Environment
Food
Global
Health
Law
Lifestyle
Media
Politics
Profile
Science
Sports
Technology
Transportation
Travel
War

Click here to submit entries.

9 Weddings in 9 Minutes, 9/09/09, 9 Guests Each, at a 99 Cents Store

Sure, it's a publicity stunt for the 99 Cents Only store in Hollywood -- inviting nine couples to get married in consecutive ceremonies that each lasted nine minutes, on September 9, 2009.

But the Los Angeles Times took the opportunity to create an upbeat, if slightly surreal, audio slideshow of the event. It gives new meaning to "walking down the aisle."

The images are cleverly accompanied by only the voice of the non-denominational minister conducting the ceremonies. All other info must be gleaned from the accompanying text:

Each couple was allowed to bring nine guests. The couples were supplied with a wedding cake, drinks and fruit after the morning ceremonies. A limousine was provided for the couples and their guests, taking them to the Griffith Park Observatory. The couples were also given a $100 bill in exchange for a penny, and a one-night stay with dinner and breakfast at a hotel in Brentwood.

We would have liked to hear more from the couples themselves -- how they got wrangled into this, what their friends and family think about it, whether they registered at the store. Perhaps the Times will be industrious enough to revisit the couples and see how their marriages are progressing -- next July 11 at a 7-Eleven!

Watch it here.

Photography and audio by Mel Melcon, produced by Bryan Chan.

How Can Still Photogs Expand Their Multimedia Skills?

Will Yurman is a newspaper staff photographer who, like many of his confreres, has had to add an abundance of multimedia skill sets to his repertoire -- audio gathering and editing, slideshow production, video shooting and editing, even constructing interactive 360-degree panoramic images.

Online journalism professor Mindy McAdams conducted an insightful interview with him for her excellent blog. The Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat & Chronicle visual journalist expounded on the differences between shooting stills and video, and emphasized the importance of audio in multimedia stories. Read it here.

McAdams previously talked to photo editors and multimedia producers at four newspapers to find out what skill sets are in short supply in today's newsrooms. "Video editing, storytelling and audio skills led the list." Read it here.

On KobreGuide, be sure to see Yurman's work and read our interview with him.

NPR in Gaza: The Video

NPR photographer David Gilkey spent a month covering the recent hostilities between Israel and Gaza. He talks about the images he made and the stories behind them in this powerful video slideshow, produced by John Poole.


NPR in Gaza, A Photographer's Journal from NPR .

Pulitzers: Still No Video Category

The good news is that The Pulitzer Prizes in journalism have now been expanded to include many text-based newspapers and news organizations that publish only on the Internet. Entries made up entirely of online content now qualify for all 14 Pulitzer journalism categories. (Pulitzer Administrator Sig Gissler explains all to "Editor & Publisher" magazine.)

The bad news is that this includes still photographs, but not video. (Incidentally, the Pulitzers exclude magazines and broadcast/cable outlets -- which means their Websites will also be eliminated from consideration, despite the progressive blurring of the definition of "online news." Presumably ineligibility also extends to online-only magazines as well, such as Salon and Slate, despite the fact that they arguably fulfill the requirement of being "updated at least weekly and include original reporting." )

More clarification: "In addition to text stories, the competition will continue to allow a full range of online content, such as interactive graphics and video, in nearly all categories." But the prizes are for the text stories themselves. There are two photography categories (for Feature and Breaking News), but they will both "continue to restrict entries to still images."

KobreGuide features the 2008 Pulitzer feature photography winner, Preston Gannaway (New Hampshire Concord Monitor), who harrowingly portrayed a family coping with a wife and mother's terminal cancer as they prepared for life without her, and dealt with the impact of her death. Though the Pulitzer was awarded for her meritorious print-version photo series, her online audio-slideshow indubitably carries more emotional power. It's called Remember Me.

Perhaps it will serve as a reminder to the Pulitzer Board that newspaper videojournalism and multimedia is a new category worthy of their attention and accolades.

How You Can Help

We're on the verge of launching the beta version of KOBREGUIDE.COM, our online guide to the Web's best video and multimedia journalism -- or, as we call it, the Web's most moving stories -- and we're hoping you'll take the opportunity NOW to submit your favorite candidates...

This project is an antidote to comprehensive Web video portals, such as YouTube and MetaCafe... We're focusing instead on handpicked, high-quality documentary-style journalism that is being produced primarily by major media outlets -- and frustratingly difficult for consumers to find...

We're a "curated" site (to use the latest buzzword, now that "edited" seems to have lost favor), which means that we're relying on discerning eyes and ears of people like YOU (and not search engines or web bots) to help alert and point us to the creme de la creme ...

We've already located scores of prizeworthy multimedia gems to showcase at launch, and now we're soliciting input from smart folks like you, who are in a position to know about and share the good stuff out there...

Criteria? ... Think "60 Minutes" TV newsmagazine-style journalism (NOT daily news or event coverage) -- but geared for the Web... Mainly video, but also compelling audio-slideshows, or a hybrid thereof... Go to mediastorm.org to see excellent examples produced by our colleague Brian Storm...

In short: True (nonfiction) journalism Web multimedia stories of the highest professional quality...

Let's break it down:

1. True. Nonfiction. Not scripted or improv sitcom. Not America's funniest home videos.

2. Journalism -- meets professional standards and criteria, preferably (but not necessarily) produced by reputable major media news outlet... NOT daily news stories or events coverage, but rather feature pieces, probably with multiple sources/voices and possibly (but not necessarily) narration...

3. Must be on the Web (preferably created exclusively for the Web -- i.e. not previously aired on TV).

4. Includes video and/or audio slideshow -- i.e. compelling moving images. May include other cutting-edge multimedia elements, BUT ultimately video and/or photographs tell the story (not just charts, graphs, maps, illustrations)... And not just captioned photogalleries ...

5. Documentary stories -- not news event coverage, but rather "60 Minutes" TV newsmagazine-style pieces with a beginning, middle, end... interesting characters... and moral or point of view.... NOTE: PLEASE DO NOT let the word "documentary" dissuade you from seeking and submitting lighthearted fare ; topics/themes need not be dreary...

6. Professional quality -- the still and/or moving images, audio, writing, editing and storytelling must meet the journalism industry's highest professional standards...

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WHAT TO DO:

1. If you know anyone who is developing or producing Web multimedia journalism, please put us in touch with them... (kenkobre at gmail.com)

2. If you know of a media outlet that regularly produces top-notch Web multimedia journalism (e.g. a metro newspaper site), please email us its URL... (kenkobre at gmail.com)

3. If you come across any individual examples of these kinds of pieces in your Web travels, either previously or in the future, please email us the URL (or, if you don't remember where you saw it, even a short description would help us locate it)... (kenkobre at gmail.com)

All we need is a URL, but it would be helpful to also have: Name of Website; title of piece; brief description; why you like it and/or think it is meritorious... First submitters will be credited on the site, along with their comments...

========

BOTTOM LINE: As major media companies are migrating their resources from print and broadcast to their online ventures, multimedia journalism stories are coming into their prime on the Web... Little by little, truly excellent work is starting to blossom and flourish -- the problem is, who has time to hunt for it?...

With your help, we will provide the quintessential daily guide to the best the medium has to offer, so that you don't have to wade through a swamp of video nonsense to get to the good stuff...

PLEASE pass along this request to everyone you know whose intelligence and good taste will help fuel this quest...

What We're All About

We're just a few weeks away from beta-launch of KOBRE GUIDE TO THE WEB'S BEST VIDEO & MULTIMEDIA JOURNALISM at KOBREGUIDE.COM....

What distinguishes KOBREGUIDE from all the other video Websites?...

Here's a sneak peek at our mission statement (below)... Let us know what you think...

And if, in your Web travels, you find a favorite story that meets these criteria, by all means please share it with us: kenkobre at gmail.com ...

KOBRE GUIDE MISSION STATEMENT

1. Promote and champion professional multimedia journalism

Kobre Guide is the portal for the Web’s most moving stories. It organizes and showcases the medium’s best documentary-style professional multimedia journalism. It is the Web’s TV Guide for non-fiction feature stories that incorporate audio and/or video components, and are about important people and issues. It is “60 Minutes” for the 21st Century -- the thinking person’s YouTube.

For busy consumers, Kobre Guide provides “one-stop shopping” for the Web’s best multimedia stories. For media outlets, Kobre Guide targets and delivers the sophisticated demographic and psychographic they have long been yearning for.

2. Offer exclusively professionally curated gems

Instead of offering user-generated content, or zillions of search-engine results, Kobre Guide is meticulously curated by a staff of top journalists who hand-pick all selections and annotate and organize them so they can be easily searched and viewed. Visitors appreciate knowing that they will always be served a balanced five-course meal by top chefs, and not thousands of blades of grass.

3. Offer exclusively professionally produced stories

Instead of a swamp of amateur home videos, Kobre Guide presents only the most sophisticated professional quality storytelling projects, generated by the world’s most distinguished journalism practitioners, including major media organizations who have won Pulitzers, Emmys and other industry awards.

If YouTube is the Web offspring of “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” Kobre Guide is the next generation of “60 Minutes” style newsmagazines, which for years topped television ratings charts.

Kobre Guide points viewers to the highest quality and attention-worthy documentary-style (i.e. non-news) video, audio slideshows and photojournalism projects that are being produced by leading news organizations (e.g. New York Times, Los Angeles Times, CNN, NPR, PBS) and reputable independent producers. These media outlets have the manpower and financial resources to dispatch journalists around the globe in search of the most important stories, developed and produced to the industry’s highest professional standards.

4. Make it simple and easy for viewers to use

Kobre Guide hosts no multimedia content – instead, we simply showcase and annotate it, organize it by “channels,” present it on easy-to-navigate grids, and link directly to the source. Viewers can find stories with one click.

5. Offer only the best of the best

Kobre Guide independently scouts, compiles, annotates and organizes content – we are neither a search engine nor a “dumping ground” for grass-roots contributions, nor do we aspire to be all-inclusive or comprehensive in scope. We will consider submissions, but ultimately everything that is featured on our site has been vetted and approved by our editorial staff, and is presented as the “cream of the crop.”

Unlike popular automated news aggregators (Google News, Yahoo News), Kobre Guide selections are handpicked by seasoned journalists who not only scour the Web for suitable candidates, but also have professional relationships with the top media outlets (e.g. New York Times, L.A. Times, Washington Post, Dallas Morning News, etc.) who provide topnotch choices.

6. Help viewers save time

The advantage to time-strapped Web viewers – who are faced with an overwhelming amount of options -- is that we provide an “at a glance” map and compass to the most prestigious “must see” multimedia projects, and enable them to make intelligent viewing choices based on useful criteria (e.g. topic, tone, source, viewing time). We’re finding the needles in the haystack for them.

7. Help media outlets attract viewers

The advantage to the multimedia producers whose projects we feature (e.g. newspapers, magazines, TV shows, etc.) is that we are directly connecting them to their Web audience – a challenge that has, to their collective despair, so far eluded even the top journalism brands. It has taken traditional “static” media a while to figure out how to tell “moving stories” – and now that they’re starting to get the hang of it, they still haven’t quite been able to generate enough viewership to satisfy advertisers. Consequently, quality Web multimedia journalism has been a perplexingly and distressingly money-losing proposition. This “one-stop” site will benefit professional journalism purveyors enormously by directly delivering eyeballs to their doorsteps.

Currently these prizeworthy photojournalism and videojournalism projects are well hidden. Though major news organizations began exploring Web multimedia possibilities since the necessary technology blossomed at the beginning of this century, it’s only been in the past year or so that their efforts have born meaningful fruit. Only recently have we begun to see well-crafted Web-specific reports that play to the strengths and characteristics of the medium and its audience. Alas, individual newspaper Websites are still struggling with how to draw audiences to their efforts. Casual visitors to these sites can easily miss the multimedia content – and, even after stumbling upon it, would have difficulty distinguishing the high quality material that’s worthy of their valuable time to view it. As a result, most of it goes unseen and unappreciated… to the dismay of the producers and media outlets who have heavily invested in it, and are banking on mass audience appeal to lure the advertising dollars needed to monetize future efforts.

8. Help local media outlets find a national audience

While there are meritorious Webvideo reports of local or regional interest, Kobre Guide is primarily looking for hidden gems that have universal appeal. While many Web travelers are likely to look at the online version of their local newspaper, they are unlikely to peruse the newspaper Websites of other cities, where multimedia stories of universal interest to them may in fact reside. Kobre Guide will therefore serve as a one-stop aggregator of the world’s best English language newsfeature multimedia.

9. Provide substance and variety

How long are the stories? They range in length from a watercooler break (1-3 minutes) to a snack (5-10 minutes) to a feast (30 minutes-plus). Using the print magazine model, some are columns or departments and others are cover stories. They are not the equivalent of TV news stories, though some may be “backgrounders” that provide a closeup focus on a personal story that brings to life a bigger issue or event. We have channels for stories that make you laugh, stories that make you cry, and stories that make you wonder.

While Kobre Guide is designed to appeal to the visual generation, we are not in competition with YouTube, MetaCafe or Revver, in that our audience yearns for high-quality professionally produced content – a nutritious meal, not empty calories.

10. Resurrect the lost art of non-fiction storytelling

What kind of projects are most likely to be found on Kobre Guide? People oriented stories. Stories that show emotion. Stories that have an impact. Stories that are important. Stories with a narrative arc – beginning, middle, end. Stories people will care about. Stories that are interesting. Stories that enable you to learn, and to better function as an intelligent citizen of the world. Stories you’ll want to share with your family, friends and colleagues. Stories about topics and issues that affect you. Stories that are good to know. Stories that you need to know. Stories with information that will improve your awareness, knowledge and understanding. Stories that will deepen and broaden your perceptions. Stories that are life-changing and life-affirming. Stories that are entertaining. Stories that are good for you.