Rudy Villarreal wins 2013 Yoder Award

Rudy Villareal

Rudy Villareal

DURHAM, NC (February 12, 2013) – The National Press Photographers Foundation today congratulated Rudy Villarreal as the winner of the 2013 Gordon Yoder Award for video photojournalists.

The award will allow Villareal to attend the NPPA News Video Workshop in March at the Gaylord College of Journalism on the University of Oklahoma campus in Norman, OK.

Villarreal is currently a junior photojournalist at KLAS-TV in Las Vegas, with just over two years of experience.

The NPPA News Video Workshop builds the fundamental skills needed to tell strong, clear, and compelling video news stories. A week of intense learning and powerful critiques enhance gathering, editing, writing, and presenting stories.

The $1,000 award, established by G. Gordon Yoder, is designed to help cover tuition and expenses for the Workshop.

“A year ago, my eyes were opened to another world of storytelling on the ‘Storytellers’ Facebook page,” Villareal wrote.

“Following this page religiously excited and motivated me to reach excellence. I began to visualize, study, network, and slowly implement techniques from other gifted photojournalists around the country. It is humbling watching the greatest storytellers around the country at work. This has made me realize, once you think you know it all, you really know nothing at all.”

Villarreal hopes to bring the Workshop experience back to his newsroom to inspire his bosses to make his station a storytelling shop.

“My ultimate goal is to never get complacent and always keep learning,” he writes. “I am committed to perfecting my craft everyday. I consistently seek constructive criticism from professionals who will share their feedback with me.”

NPPA Sprague Award-winner G. Gordon Yoder was a combat correspondent and photographer in Korea and a network photojournalist covering news, including the civil rights movement in 1950’s and 1960’s. He designed and manufactured the innovative 16mm Yoder Sound Camera, which became an industry standard for television stations and networks.