Meet the Judges
Anne Farrar
Originally from Athens, Ohio, Anne Farrar has worked in the photo industry for 15 years. She began her visual journey by attending Ohio University’s Visual Communication program.
Farrar became a designer and informational graphics artist for a few years where she learned the ins and outs of news publishing and structure. In 1997 she accepted a job at the
Minneapolis Star-Tribune as a features picture editor. Within a year, she moved to
The Dallas Morning News as a night photo editor. In 2006 she celebrated a Pulitzer Prize team win as a photo editor at
The Dallas Morning News for coverage of Hurricane Katrina.
In 2005 Farrar joined her husband, JVS (Joseph Victor Stefanchik), to create
JVS Pictures. She works as a photographer and designer at the innovative photo studio which specializes in portraits, documentary weddings, commercial photography and design.
Farrar was raised Lutheran, at
Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church in Athens, Ohio, and served as a summer camp counselor at
Camp Luther while in college.
José Antonio Machado
The Rev. José Antonio Machado was born in Puerto Rico and graduated from
Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minn. He has been a mission developer in the ELCA and has served churches in Puerto Rico, Florida and Minnesota. He has traveled throughout Latin America with The
Lutheran World Federation. In 1997 Machado received Luther Seminary's Race, Church and Change Award for his work in multicultural ministry, race relations and reconciliation. In 2004 he was named the Latino pastor of the year in Minneapolis.
A gifted musician, Machado has led music at many
Global Mission Events, youth events and national
youth gatherings. Machado currently serves as Vocational Coordinator at
Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, Berkeley, Calif., and Luther Seminary expanding recruitment efforts to women and men who discern they are called to public leadership in the church.
Machado's home congregation is
Saint Paul-Reformation Lutheran Church in Saint Paul, Minn.
Kirsten Nelson
Kirsten Nelson was born in Oklahoma but raised in Chicago and Milwaukee, Wis. After attending Northwestern University, she co-founded Roadworks Theatre Company in Chicago before moving to Los Angeles. She has worked steadily since her arrival in L.A., shooting series
Thanks (CBS) and
The O’Keefe’s (WB), as well as favorite guest appearances on
Eli Stone (ABC),
Buffy (WB),
Frasier (NBC),
Malcolm in the Middle (FOX) and
The West Wing (NBC).
Currently, she is shooting season 4 of
Psych for USA. On
Psych she plays
Police Chief Karen Vick. She can also be seen in the films
War of the Worlds,
Mrs. Harris (for HBO) and
Stuck in the Suburbs (Disney Channel).
Nelson is a member of
Salem Lutheran Church, Glendale, Calif., and daughter of the Rev. Dean Nelson, bishop of the ELCA
Southwest California Synod. She lives with her family in Los Angeles.
Rick Steves
Rick Steves grew up in Edmonds, Wash., and studied at the University of Washington where he received degrees in Business Administration and European History. But his real education came in Europe — since 1973 he's spent 120 days a year in Europe. Spending one third of his adult life living out of a suitcase in Europe has shaped his thinking.
Today he employs 80 people at his
Europe Through the Back Door headquarters in Edmonds, where he produces 30 guidebooks on European travel, the most popular travel series in America on public television, a weekly hour-long national public radio show, and a weekly column syndicated by the Chicago Tribune. Steves and his wife Anne have traveled each of the last 22 years with their two kids, Andy and Jackie. He is a member of
Trinity Lutheran Church in Lynnwood, Wash.