Review-Journal videographer wins Eppy award for best sports video

Las Vegas Review-Journal videographer Heidi Fang won an Editor & Publisher award for her video about Wimp 2 Warrior, a 22-week mixed martial arts camp designed for everyday people.

Fang won the contest’s Best Sports Video category.

Her video profiles a boot camp, led by professional MMA fighter Jessy Clark inside the local gym Syndicate MMA, that puts average Joes and Janes through the rigors of real MMA training.

For the camp’s participants, there’s even a bonus payoff at the end of the monthslong training: the chance to fight in an amateur MMA match, if they are up for it.

“What I loved about the video was the trainer’s intensity. And the smiles. You don’t get a whole lot of smiles in UFC coverage, but this is another side of that story, and Heidi found a group of people who were really enjoying the challenge,” said Greg Haas, Review-Journal assistant managing editor for digital.

“Mixed martial arts fighters inspire people in a way that’s easy to understand through Heidi’s lens,” Haas added. “Maybe you’ve never had the desire to get in the cage, but the people who want to know what it takes have stories to tell.”

The Review-Journal also was one of four finalists in the contest’s category for best daily newspaper website and one of five finalists for best redesign/relaunch with 1 million or more unique monthly visitors.

Las Vegas Weekly, a free alternative-weekly magazine, won for the contest’s best weekly or non-daily newspaper website with fewer than 1 million unique monthly visitors.

Contact reporter Colton Lochhead at clochhead@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4638. Follow @ColtonLochhead on Twitter.