Alexandra Garcia is a producer at the New York Times. Watch the video to get to know her and what she was excited about coming to CPOY this year.

Nick Michael is the Supervising Editor for Video at NPR and was one of our multimedia judges. Watch this video to learn more about him!

Our dedicated staff spent hours setting up Tucker Forum on the weekend before CPOY 74. Here it is, in just one minute.
Video by Jason Vance
Video Editing by Liv Paggiarino
Music: "Flight of the Bumblebee" by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov

CPOY 74 Setup, in One Minute from CPOY/POYi on Vimeo.

Here's the percentage of this year's submissions by region! Recognize your home? Infographic by Liv Paggiarino. 

Our first category of the competition was Spot News; it was also our smallest category of stills submissions. Here's what the judging of that first category looked like on our end. 

Photos by Joel Chan

CPOY 74 Judge Scott Strazzante watches the slideshow of entries for the Spot News Category on Sunday. 

MU student volunteer Army Feffer takes out some clementines for the morning; his role this morning was "host", which includes making coffee and making sure the snack table was well-stocked.

CPOY Director Jackie Bell gives some guidelines on judging to this year's Stills Division judges, Scott Strazzante, Adriana Teresa Latorney, Alexa Keefe and Genaro Molina, prior to the judging of the first category.

Gotta get that caffeine! CPOY Coordinator Hilary Tan grabs some much-needed coffee before judging on Sunday morning. 

We have some shiny new CPOY stickers to put on our mugs now! 

CPOY 74 Judge Adriana Teresa Letorney mulls over an image during Spot News judging.

The judges look through every image large on the screen; they'll see each image submitted at least twice before finalizing a decision on whether to vote it in or out. 

Every year, we have a cohort of MU students who graciously donate their time to helping run the back end of the competition. They get coffee and tea for judges, hand out snacks, read captions, call ins and outs, take pictures and operate the sound board. Here they are at this year's training day, which always happens the day before judging starts!

Photos by Liv Paggiarino and India Garrish

Two buttons to rule them all: these are the remotes that judges will be using to vote in or out on each image and story they see this week. (By Liv Paggiarino)

Student volunteers gain the training necessary to fulfill their duties throughout the week, which include reading captions, calling ins and outs, operating the sound system and providing judges with snacks and (most importantly) caffeine! (By Liv Paggiarino)

MU senior and social media volunteer India Garrish smiles while going through images to post for the day. #Meta (By Liv Paggiarino)

CPOY Coordinator Anto Tavitian shows student volunteers how to operate the in-and-out voting machine during training Saturday. (By Liv Paggiarino)

MU graduate student Lexi Deagan explains to undergraduate volunteer Liz Goodwin how to operate the soundboard during volunteer training Saturday. (By Liv Paggiarino)

We design and make our own buttons here at CPOY; it's tradition! (By India Garrish)

"Don't ever hit 'save' on this," Anto says while explaining how to read captions of entries during volunteer training Saturday. "You'll make me very sad if you do."* (By Liv Paggiarino)

*No images were harmed in this training. There is one computer that we ask our volunteers not to save anything on, because they aren't making any changes to the files but other computers are.

During CPOY week, the building's staff graciously shares some fridge space with us so that we can provide food and beverages to judges. (By Liv Paggiarino) 

MU student volunteers Elizabeth Underwood and Sammy Snyder peek into the fridge that'll hold beverages for judges during volunteer training on Saturday. (By Liv Paggiarino)

MU student volunteer Joel Chan stands in the break room while going through training to make coffee for judges. (By Liv Paggiarino)

MU graduate student volunteer Jessi Dodge tests the microphone during volunteer training and setup on Saturday. (By Liv Paggiarino)

9385 images. 566 participants. 126 schools, worldwide.

As CPOY73 comes to an end, we're looking back on the students that made this year's competition possible.

Thanks to everyone who participated! We'll see you next year.  

Cables, computers, more cables – here is a timelapse taken by Yehyun Kim of our CPOY volunteers setting up everything in the Reynold Journalism Institute’s Fred W. Smith Forum last week. Watch until the end to get a sneak peek of the Still Division judges Marcia Allert, Cheryl Diaz Meyer, Patrick Farrell and Vaughn Wallace reviewing some pictures!

As the Stills Division for CPOY73 wrapped up earlier this week, judges headed out as Multimedia judges Maisie Crow, Jarrad Henderson and Yoshi James arrived on Thursday. The Multimedia Division judging will run until Sunday, November 4.

Stills Division judge Marcia Allert, left, speaks with Anto Tavitian, right, during a portfolio review before leaving. (PC: Patrick Farrell)

Still Division judges, from left, Marcia Allert, Patrick Farrell, Vaughn Wallace, and Cheryl Diaz Meyer talk in front of the Columns at the University of Missouri in Columbia.

Multimedia Division judge Jarrad Henderson is interviewed by Ellie Cherryhomes, Jennifer Mosbrucker and Emily Nevils at the start of the judges' arrival on Thursday.

Multimedia Division judge Yoshi James (shown in center) donnes pins of herself and fellow multimedia judges, Maisie Crow, left, and Jarrad Henderson, right, on Friday.

Check out more graphics and behind-the-scenes content here: https://bit.ly/2JCAVb3.

Judges from the CPOY73 Still Division shed some light on Wednesday in Sports Portfolio, Documentary, Portfolio categories, as well as literally, donning light up glasses during a break. 

Marcia Allert laughs in front of the CPOY judging screen.

Judges Cheryl Diaz Meyer and Vaughn Wallace adjust their light-up glasses.

Judge Vaughn Wallace donned a witch hat as part of his Halloween accessories.

The crew, from left: Cheryl Diaz Meyer, Patrick Farrell, Vaughn Wallace, and Marcia Allert.

Judge Vaughn Wallace projects a wicked silhouette on the screen.

See more of our behind-the-scenes photos here: https://www.instagram.com/collegephotog/

Check out more of our behind-the-scenes photos here: https://www.instagram.com/collegephotog/

Check out more of our behind-the-scenes photos here: https://www.instagram.com/collegephotog/

Check out more of our behind-the-scenes photos here: https://www.instagram.com/collegephotog/ 

Check out more behind-the-scenes photos here: https://www.instagram.com/collegephotog/ 

Check out more behind-the-scenes photos here: https://www.instagram.com/collegephotog/ 

Watch the CPOY 72 still image judges (from left: Deanne Fitzmaurice, Molly Roberts, Carl Phillippe-Juste and Don Bartletti) judge the entries for Feature category, spanning about an hour and a half.

Photo by Loren Elliott/CPoY

CPOY coordinator Taz Lombardo toggles through images displayed on the big screen during the first day of judging Sunday, Nov. 9, 2014. 

Photo by Loren Elliott/CPoY

University of Missouri photojournalism graduate students Justin Stewart (left) and Alexey Furman watch the judging process at the 69th annual CPoY's first day, on Nov. 9, 2014. "Justin and I were playing the 'ins' and 'outs' game, pointing our thumb up or down depending on what we thought about the image on the screen," Furman said. "It was interestin g as on most of the images our opinions were contrary. I think neither of us did good in guessing the judges' opinion." 

Photo by Loren Elliott/CPoY

CPoY judges and coordinators take part in the first day of judging on Nov. 9, 2014. "Students at MU are particularly fortunate to have a photojournalism competition like this hosted here," University of Missouri senior Sarah Rothberg said. "Viewers have the opportunity to hear experts in the field comment on photos taken by our peers. Personally, I've been participating in the competition for two to three years, and it's been an invaluable experience."

Photo by Loren Elliott/CPoY

CPoY director Rita Reed (left) chats with judges Uwe Martin (center) and Preston Gannaway during a break in the judging at Tucker Forum on Nov. 9, 2014.

Graduate student and CPOY volunteer Leah Beane talks about the making of CPOY buttons

Meet THE BOX and director Rita Reed!