ANY PUBLICATION
(No circulation restrictions, includes wire services)
C1. Don Bolles Investigative
14 entries
Judge:
Bruce DeSilva is newsfeatures editor with the Associated Press in New York. The
former associate editor for writing and editing at The
Hartford Courant, he has been a writing consultant for newspapers and
has led numerous writing workshops.
First place
Patrick Cavanaugh
Northwest EXPLORER
“The chief and the New West:
“A most unusual investigation of a most unusual police department. Cavanaugh began his investigation after a patron of the New West Nightclub, where nearly every member of the Marana Police Department — including the chief — had moonlighted at one time or another, was killed by bouncers. Although authorities ruled the death occurred accidentally as the man was being restrained, witness accounts, as well as 52 injuries on the victim’s body, raise the possibility that it was murder. Using this case as a
window into the workings of the local police, Cavanaugh dug for 18 months, examining thousands of pages of documents and developing dozens
of sources inside the department and out. The result: an intermittent series that paints a shocking picture of unsavory associations, conflicts of interest, plummeting morale, incompetence, favoritism, witnesses intimidation, and an atmosphere of distrust so severe that officers sometimes felt it necessary to conceal investigative files from their chief. Although most of Cavanaugh’s sources inside the department unfortunately but understandably insisted on remaining anonymous, their accounts are nevertheless convincing both because of their consistency and the way in which they are supported by documents and named sources. Cavanaugh tells his story in a vivid narrative that is fascinating even to this reader living 3,000 miles away. It is a rare investigative story that is both a compelling read and a valuable public service.” (Note: Different stories on the same subject were entered in this category and the B4. Sustained Coverage category.)
Second place
Rhonda Bodfield and Joe Burchell
Arizona Daily Star
“County spends millions uncontrolled”
“An ambitious and comprehensive examination of public works spending in Pima County. The reporters reviewed all contracts and purchase orders for 10 years — an exhaustive task. But this was not just a records story; their work was guided by effective source development, with insiders providing them with guidance in understanding where to look and what to look for. They presented their findings in precise and clear prose — no easy task in a complicated story about numbers. Their main findings — that contracts were being issued without competitive bidding, that vast amounts of money was being wasted, and that much of it was going to big campaign contributors — was a scandal, and the story has already led to reforms.”
No third place.
C2. John Kolbe Politics/Government
13 entries
Judge: Patt Morrison is a writer and columnist for the Los Angeles Times and political commentator for National Public Radio. She was on reporting teams that won two Pulitzer Prizes for the Times.
First place
John Dougherty
New Times
“Exalted ruler”
“This piece and its sidebar very effectively combine investigation, great scene-setting storytelling and fine shoe-leather reporting to call a new and powerful city council member and former cop on some very fast-and-loose practices. I’d love to know the fallout from these pieces.”
Second place
Ed Baker
East Valley Tribune
“A county divided, can it work?”
“This three-parter with sidebars is both a readable walk through civics and local government, and a nuts-and-bolts and soup-to-nuts analysis of the costs and consequences of splitting Maricopa County, or not splitting it.”
Third place
Tom Zoellner and Billy House
The Arizona Republic
“Salmon failed to register to lobby”
“This story, about a month before election day, calls into question the candidate’s forthrightness about his own record with a straightforward piece on a complex subject that takes it beyond the usual “did-not-did-so” back and forth.”
Honorable mention
Garry Duffy and Michael Lafleur
Tucson Citizen
“May election preview series”
“This is precisely the kind of thoughtful, quality pre-election analysis and coverage that newspapers should be doing in the public service and public interest — and too often do not.”
C4. Deadline news reporting
25 entries
Judge: Rick Everett is managing editor/news of The Star-Ledger in Newark, New Jersey. He directed the paper’s coverage of the Seton Hall dorm fire that won the American Society of Newspaper Editor’s 2001 award for deadline news reporting.
First place
Staff
East
Valley Tribune
“Unstoppable — Show Low evacuates as flames close in”
“What a great team effort. Two small fires converge to create the massive Mogollon Rim blaze and the Tribune staff was everywhere in a remote area covering it. A beautifully written mainbar with great eyewitness accounts. Strong sidebars and a lovely column (by a sports editor) complement the package. Well done.”
Second place
Judd Slivka
The
Arizona Republic
“Gunman shoots 3 at UA”
“A very close second. There were a couple of entries about this incident, but Slivka’s was clearly the best. The level of detail, the strength of the quotes, the structure of the story stood out. A classic hard news story told with great flair.”
Third place
Joe Salkowski and Enric Volante
Arizona Daily Star
“The death of Joe Bonanno”
“Normally, an obit of a 97-year-old man would not qualify as a breaking news event, but the timing of Bonanno’s death and the depth of the reporting makes this special. A good job of not glorifying a man who caused a lot of misery.”
C5. Non-deadline reporting
33 entries
Judge: Matt Birkbeck, a reporter at the Pocono Record in Stroudsburg, Penn., won IRE and Keystone awards in 2002 for investigative reporting for stories on mortgage and real estate fraud. He is the author of “A Deadly Secret: The Strange Disappearance of Kathie Durst.”
First place
Dennis Wagner, Judi Villa and Patricia Biggs
The Arizona Republic
“Phoenix Worst in Solving Rapes”
“Solid, in-depth reporting and good use of statistics result in eye opening story.”
Second place
Mark Flatten
East Valley Tribune
“Valley FBI Stifled Terror Flight”
“A well reported story that no doubt left readers angry and gave them a clear yet disturbing look at the inner workings of the FBI.”
Third place:
Shaun McKinnon
The Arizona Republic
“Smart Growth Still Elusive”
“McKinnon offers deep insight, supported by facts, into the problems facing recent legislation designed to control sprawl.”
C6. Sustained reporting
20 entries
Judge: George de Lama, deputy managing editor/news at the Chicago Tribune, helped open the Tribune’s news bureau in Havana — the first American newspaper office in Cuba in 35 years. He has covered the conflicts in Central America, the U.S. invasion of Grenada, the Falkland Islands War, South American dictatorships and the drug wars in Peru and Colombia. The magazine Hispanic Business has named him one of the 100 most influential Hispanics in the United States.
First place
Murphy Hebert
Daily Courier
“Abuse survivor”
“A wrenching account of one woman’s nightmare with domestic violence, a hearbreaking and cautionary tale about the toll it exacted on her and her children.”
Second place
Jane Erikson
Arizona Daily Star
“One woman’s journey”
“Moving stories about one woman’s encounter with cancer, a tale of courage and hope told with grace and compassion.”
Third place
Judy Nichols
Arizona Republic
“Rodeo-Chediski fire”
“Vividly written, well-reported stories on the Rodeo-Chediski fire and its impact on Apache tribes people in rural Arizona.”
C7. Beat reporting
33 entries
Judge: Mike McPhee, a reporter for the Denver Post, covered the JonBenet Ramsey case and was a member of the reporting team that won the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News on the Columbine High School shootings. He is working on his second book.
First place
Karina Bland
The Arizona Republic
The child welfare beat
“Karina Bland has the talent to go national, if she chose. She showed what is becoming all too rare in journalism — a willingness to turn off the Internet, get out of the newsroom and find the sources, to talk to them face-to-face about very uncomfortable subjects, then write the stories with sensitivity, accuracy and a terrific sense of good story telling. Three of her stories are some of the best I’ve ever read in newspapers. Her story on Tony Murphy trying to rebuild his family and their life after the death of his wife and the mother of their two children should be made into a movie. What a remarkable approach she had to telling about child abuse and homicide by telling it through the eyes of three doctors, all of them fathers, who must perform the autopsies on ‘the little goobers,’ to quote a police sergeant. Finally, she portrayed the classic battle between a struggling young family and the good intentions of the Child Protective Services bureaucrats. Beautiful!”
Second place
Shaun McKinnon
The Arizona Republic
The environmental beat
“McKinnon understands his difficult beat — water rights and the environment — as well as any reporter I’ve come across. If Karina Bland zoomed in on her subject, McKinnon zoomed out and presented a wonderful perspective on dams along the Colorado River and the Bureau of Reclamation at its 100-year birthday. His explanations of what happens to a river after a major forest fire were clear and very readable. We have the same problems here in Colorado and I learned a good deal more from McKinnon than from my own paper. McKinnon does the nearly impossible of explaining the driest (no pun) of subjects in a very readable, very understandable way.
Third place (TIE)
Carla McClain
Arizona Daily Star
The health beat
“Her story on medical students learning to relate to spooked horses, to calming them down without a word, was a fabulous piece. Every med school in the country should see that story.”
Mitch Tobin
Arizona Daily Star
The environmental beat
“Tobin has an interesting approach to writing about wildlife, zoos and the desert. It was compelling. I really liked his stories.”
C8. Project reporting
16 entries
Judge: Hank Stuever writes for the Washington Post’s “Style” section on such important matters as strip malls, bad fashion, marginal politics, haunted waterbed stores and back hair. He has also worked at the Austin American-Statesman and the Albuquerque Tribune. He was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in the feature-writing category in 1993 and 1996.
Judge’s note: In project reporting, the top awards go to two very different approaches on what remains the most compelling and most befuddling story in the American West – the fate of Native Americans. One project, from The Arizona Republic, chooses macrocosm – revisiting major Indian health care issues with a renewed vigor and breadth of analysis. The other, from New Times, chooses microcosm — incisively going deep into one tribe’s last-ditch effort to teach its children and salvage its own existence.
First place
Judy Nichols
The Arizona Republic
“Indian health care: Separate, unequal” and related stories.
“Nichols’ work here is both a useful primer and an urgent reminder of the complexities of Native American health woes in Arizona and beyond. A fresh, concise and streamlined explanatory treatment of the ‘biggies’: alcoholism, federal ambivalence, cultural disconnect, tragic mishap. A good read, too.”
Second place
Laura Laughlin
New Times
“Model nation”
“A richly told,
two-part examination of the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation’s effort to educate
its children, wrapped up in the usual despair of tribal politics, government
policy, culture clashes, casinos, corruption, loss. Effective use of narrative
styles, descriptive sentences and meaningful time spent with sources keeps an
otherwise daunting reading task aloft. These stories are intrepid and
tell-it-like-it-is.”
Third place
Emma Johnson
East Valley Tribune
“On borrowed time,”
“This monthly series intimately profiles Arizonans in need of organ transplants. Too bad for these folks – the state ranks 50th in donors per capita and appears to have a mismanaged donor network. Thompson’s steady, persistent (and admirably short) stories gave readers a chance to see this quiet crisis up-close.”
C9. Environmental reporting
16 entries
Judge: Brent Israelsen, senior environmental reporter for The Salt Lake Tribune, was awarded the 2001 Ford Environmental Journalism Fellowship by the International Center For Journalists to teach and report in Bosnia-Herzegovina and the Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia. He has won numerous regional awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and the Associated Press.
First place
Robert Nelson
New Times
“FIRE: Phoenix’s negligence left hundreds sick from toxic fumes”
“Though plagued by a snoozer headline, the story of the Central Garden fire of August 2000 proved to be a gripping read. The reporter artfully weaved human tragedy with facts and history to describe a systemic failure by those entrusted to protect Arizona’s citizens from environmental disasters. If only all newspapers could devote this kind of time and space to this kind of reporting.”
Second place
Mitch Tobin
Arizona Daily Star
“Our perilous public lands”
“The writer’s thorough reporting and straightforward prose almost puts the reader into the vast, searing desert of Southern Arizona, the primary frontier in the government’s battle with illegal drugs and immigrants from Mexico. The two-part presentation provided an eye-opening account of how the battle is draining budgets, harming the land and imperiling America’s natural-resources rangers.”
Third place
Jennifer Sterba
Arizona Daily Star
“Moving a giant: Huge, old saguaro must make way”
“A refreshing, engaging, in-depth look at an all-too-frequent affront to Arizona’s most recognizable native plant. The writer turned an otherwise routine story into an opportunity to give readers a better understanding and appreciation of the mighty saguaro.”
C10. Science, technology, medicine
25 entries
Judge: Malcolm Ritter, a science writer for The Associated Press, has been chosen for numerous journalism fellowships dealing with such topics as stem cells and brain research.
First place
Maureen West
The Arizona Republic
“Breast cancer dilemma” and “Losing a breast, gaining insight”
“West combines reporting with her own personal story, making a compelling package about the choices women face with the diagnosis of
early breast cancer.”
Second place
Jane Erikson
Arizona Daily Star
“Arthritis drugs: effective but risky”
“Dealing with a topic of interest to many Arizona residents, Erikson lets patients graphically illustrate what ‘risk-benefit equation’ really means for some recently approved arthritis medications.”
Third place
Alan D. Fischer
Arizona Daily Star
”Bioengineering in your refrigerator”
“Fischer presents a useful and timely summary of arguments about genetically engineered foods, a topic that has received relatively little attention in this country, but which Fischer’s readers have encountered through activists at local supermarkets.”
C11. Law and order
17 entries
Judge: Lou Kilzer, a special projects reporter for the Rocky Mountain News, has won two Pulitzer Prizes, the George Polk Award for National Reporting and the Investigative Reporters and Editors sweepstakes award. He’s also the author of two books: “Churchill’s Deception” and “Hitler’s Traitor.”
First place
Paul Rubin
New Times
“Shot in the dark”
“This story concerning a cop who might be suffering Munchausen syndrome is well written and non-bloated. The reporter scored big by getting the suspended cop to talk. As in many of such cases, the subject did himself some good and some bad by coming forward. But he did the reader only good.”
Second place (TIE)
Jeannine Relly
Arizona Daily Star
“The business of abduction”
“A nicely put together piece, with a strong lead and nut graf. It had information I have not encountered elsewhere.”
Paul Rubin
New Times
“Expert Tease”
“Explores the dark world of recovered memories. Experts around the country are discovering just how easy it is to plant a false memory in certain people. Without taking a stand on Kim Logerquist’s story, Paul Rubin skillfully delves into the uncertainties – and the devastating consequences – of recovered memories. Again, it is well written and well edited.
C12. Religion, faith and ethics reporting
19 entries
Judge: Michael Paulson, religion reporter for The Boston Globe, has been awarded a number of journalistic fellowships and his work has been singled out by the American Academy of Religion. He was a member of the Globe staff who reported on and later wrote a book on the Catholic Church’s problems with sexual abuse by priests.
First place
Stephanie Innes
Arizona
Daily Star
“Sainthood looms, but did he exist?”
“A well-reported, balanced examination of a topical and timely subject, with a nice lede and a good mix of local voices.”
Second place
Susy Buchanan
Phoenix New Times
“A path divided”
“Interesting yarn keying off a major news event, with a good lede and
rich detail.”
Third place
Lawn Griffiths
East Valley Tribune
“Showered with Love”
“Nice descriptive feature, deftly written.”
C13. Diversity reporting
23 entries
Judge: George Ramos is a general-assignment reporter on the metro staff of the Los Angeles Times, where he has been part of three Pulitzer Prize-winning efforts.
First place
Carla McClain
Arizona Daily Star
“Boy inspires bone marrow donors”
“This story is superb because it does a couple of things. It discusses the appalling few numbers of Latinos who agree to be organ donors across the country and in the southwest. And, it shows how a local Tucson boy helped pump up those low numbers. This effort shines a light into a little-known aspect of the Latino community.”
Second place
Judy Nichols
The Arizona Republic
“Inside Apache rite of passage”
“This once-in-a-lifetime look at the ceremony marking a young woman’s passage into adulthood is revealing, informative and well-told. For those of us who aren’t Apache or Native American, this story is a treasury of gold nuggets about life in an under-reported region of Arizona.”
Third place
Tim Steller
Arizona Daily Star
“Smugglers’ pathway”
“Want to know how illegal alien smuggling can affect a small stretch of the Arizona Sonora border? This story tells of the frustrating options left to underprivileged members of the Tohono O’odham Indian nation in and around the town of Menagers Dam, Arizona. This is a story worth telling.”
Honorable mention
Mark Shaffer
The Arizona Republic
“A drought like no other”
“Droughts are always bad. But when they happen to the proud Navajo nation, they can be a killer. This story tells of the consequences in good, rich detail.”
C14. Education reporting
17 entries
Judge: Tim Simmons has covered public education for The News & Observer in Raleigh, North Carolina, since 1991 and for the past three years has concentrated on minority education issues. His 1999 series about the racial achievement gap, “Worlds Apart,” won the Hechinger Prize, the highest national award for education writing.
First place
Daniel González
The Arizona Republic
“Cultural values linked to Latino dropout rate”
“Even though it is a subject that has been covered many times before, it is presented cleanly and primarily from the students’ perspectives. It contains plenty of context and uses its speakers nicely. The statistics and quotes, which often bury a story like this one, were introduced at a pace that offered insight and understanding throughout. Parents and students who decided to spurn further education would have helped me understand the situation even more in this story, but all told I found it an informed and informing story.”
Second place
Karina Bland
The Arizona Republic
“Schools on guard for sex offenders”
“This is the third sex offender story I have seen this year and as such I was leery of its ability to avoid the sensationalistic tendencies of the other two. But I thought it did a good job of informing the public without trying to purposely scare them. It offered a good explanation of why this situation exists and how parents can become better informed if they are concerned by the state’s approach. I realize quoting sex offenders by name is a tough request, but I felt it would have provided some needed heft to their side of the story.”
Third place
Kristen Go and Mel Melendez
The Arizona Republic
“Special Education Faulted”
“What I liked most about this story is the way it weaves the personal story of Bethany Cortez with the larger problems of special education. The family doesn’t come off as fanatical — common problem among special ed families that are driven by frustration — and the reporters do a good job of showing how hopelessly flawed the system is rather than having someone simply say it over and over.
“I found parts of the passages to be a little too compact, offering too much information to absorb in too short a time. I also kept waiting for other parents to step forward and say they felt much like Bethany’s mom but just didn’t see much point in fighting the system. Those parents are referenced in the story, but they don’t step out and speak for themselves.”
Honorable mention
Hernán Rozemberg
The Arizona Republic
“Visa rules vex foreign students”
“The lede on this story was so compelling that it took me a couple of reads just to get around to paying attention to the rest of the article. Again, this is a story that was done countless times in the year or so after 9/11, but it was clean, solid and easy to read to the point where I kept reading all the way to the end even though I pretty much knew the story line.”
C15. Explanatory reporting
31 entries
Judge: Mike Vitez, a features columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer, won a Pulitzer Prize in 1997 for explanatory journalism.
Judge’s note: This category was rich in quality journalism and there
were many, many entries that deserved recognition.
First Place: TIE
Shaun McKinnon
The
Arizona Republic
“Tribes gain water, voice in state future”
“McKinnon took an incredibly complex and critical subject — water in the
arid, booming Southwest — and told me in a lucid, compelling way exactly how much water is available, who is going to control it, and what communities and tribes will facing in the future. I believe stories like this one are truly a public service.”
Maureen West and Catherine Reagor
The
Arizona Republic:
“Redefining retirement”
“West and Reagor identify a sweeping trend that will change the face Arizona and the nation. They report incredibly well, write even better, and bring into focus a totally changing lifestyle: how and where we retire.”
Third place
Mitch Tobin
Arizona Daily Star
“Endangered species — or land grab?”
“This was an incredibly well reported story about a fascinating question: Are county officials using endangered species lists as a way of managing growth? I thought the story had scope and surprise, namely how a metropolitan area deals with biodiversity.”
Honorable mention
Jane Erikson
Arizona Daily Star
“Arizona’s uninsured: health care for all”
“The story takes a complex issue and explains it clearly, with perspective, in a great service to readers and the public good.”
Honorable Mention
Ignacio Ibarra
Arizona Daily Star
“Why you need La Perra Flaca”
“This story, on the immigrant workers who hoe weeds and thin rows of green chile for Arizona farmers, was well reported and put in perspective why farmers like it, why migrants do it, and how this migration benefits the American consumer.”
C16. Sustained neighborhood reporting
19 entries
Judge: Kevin Armstrong is editor of The Virginia Beach Beacon, a community news section published twice weekly for Virginia Beach readers of The Virginian-Pilot. He has been with the Pilot in various roles since 1984 and in 1997 was charged with developing a new strategy for the paper's community news section that “complemented and did not compete with the daily.” The Beacon was zoned five ways in 1999 with regular correspondents assigned to each of those five zones.
First place
Yvonne Wingett
The Arizona Republic
“This writer understands that community issues aren’t framed by two points of view alone, and she goes into the community to find numerous voices for her stories. And, no matter the issue she’s writing about, she states it clearly and explores it thoroughly so that even I, as an outsider, can understand the issue well enough to establish an informed opinion on the subject.”
Second place
Thomas Ropp
The Scottsdale Republic
“I get the sense from reading this writer’s stories that not much happens in Cave Creek that he doesn’t know and write about. I don’t know how long he has covered this particular community, but he writes with a perspective that suggests he’s been there for quite a few years and can relate the past to the present, regardless of the topic. It builds enormous credibility for him with his readers.”
Third place
Megan Rutherford
Arizona Daily Star
“This journalist combines the best of gathering lots of details during her reporting with putting those facts to work in her storytelling. She takes me places I’ve never been before and sets the scene so well that I feel like I’m on a guided tour.”
C17. Spotlight on wildfires
15 entries
Judge: Craig Welch is an environment reporter at The Seattle Times, where he covered the Montana fires of 2000 and a Washington wildfire in 2001 that killed four firefighters. He’s also worked at The (Spokane) Spokesman-Review, where he covered fires in Idaho, and the Jackson Hole News, where he covered fires in and around Grand Teton and Yellowstone national parks.
First place:
Staff
The Arizona Republic
“The world changes when you’ve been fuel for fire,” “Hell comes to White Mountains,” “Monster rages,” “Two towns burn” and “BIA firefighter arrested”
“From its early description of the Rodeo fire as ‘a vicious freak that gobbled ground’ and a blaze that sucked in flames like a tornado and ‘spit them back out,’ The Arizona Republic’s wildfire coverage set the bar high. The follow-up special package on June 30 covered a lot of ground, was compelling, and included great touches, such as the anecdote about ‘Brown Crane’ scattering sparks across the world. This came on the same day news broke of Leonard Gregg’s arrest, and, the same day as Doug Maceachern’s fantastic Viewpoint piece on Show Low. Throughout this contest, the reporting and writing was superb, but the five entries from The Arizona Republic were far and away the best.”
Second place
Tom Zoellner
The Arizona Republic
“Apache tribe facing hardships, racism,” “’Renegades’ broke law to save homes,” “Linden family waits to sift through ashes,” “Prescott often has been in the path of wildfires” and “Fires ‘fascinated’ suspect”
“Wildfires as destructive as those in Arizona last year are inherently dramatic, and nearly every entry in this category did a superb job capturing the power and fury — and breaking news — of rampaging flames. Zoellner’s work did something else. He found intriguing, unusual stories behind the flames. And while his stories would have been easy to overwrite, Zoellner showed remarkable restraint, choosing instead to get out of the way and tell them in plain simple language. The quality of his two best stories (one of which also listed Judd Slivka as a contributor) could be seen in his leads. On a profile of the man accused of setting a fire that eventually grew to 464,000 acres, he wrote: ‘Leonard Gregg could lose himself in flames.’ On a story about a rebellious community of 149 who defied the rules to protect their town, his story began: ‘This is a story about a town that felt it had to break the law to save itself.’ Nicely done.”
Third Place
Mitch Tobin, Tom Beal and Thomas Stauffer
Arizona Daily Star
“The danger of adrenaline,” “A surreal world of ash and embers,” “2 fires on track to merge,” “Entrants tied to costly wildfires” and “Apache’s bitter harvest”
In a collection of five diverse stories, these reporters found new and surprising tales, or interesting ways to tell old ones. Tobin wrote a profile of firefighters that was poetic and descriptive (but not at all overly so) and cut to the heart of why they do what they do — they get amped by flames, ‘a force that is both enemy and muse.’ Beal’s story about the Apaches desperately trying to save a third of their forest — and dealing with the resulting death of two men — was heartbreaking. And Tobin's story about illegal border crossers suspected of starting wildfires was fascinating and clearly took initiative. A very strong collection.”
Honorable Mention
Scott C. Seckel
East Valley Tribune
“Hotshots racing fire for canyon,” “Air crews fight short-handed,” “Fight not over yet for hop canyon,” “Hopes flare up as blaze stalls” and “On the highway through hell”
“Seckel earned this primarily on the strength of two stories. The first, his description of the devastation he saw during a weekend drive, was rich with detail — from melted plastic fences to the destruction of one resident’s second home, which he’d built with cash, to the intact fire extinguisher in a van outside another family’s burned-out house. The other story did a good job of describing the effort to protect a canyon, which, in turn would keep fire away from three towns.”
C19. Newsfeature writing, 500 words or less
18 entries
Judge: Jack Shafer is an editor at large at the online publication Slate,
where he writes the column “Press Box.” Prior to joining Slate, Shafer
edited Washington City Paper and SF Weekly.
Judge’s note: The news feature in 500 words category requires the minimalist skills of Raymond Carver and the maximalist sensiblity of Pee Wee Herman: Get in quick, get out fast, and leave ‘em grinning.
First place
Sean L. McCarthy
The Arizona Republic
“Phoenix, Mesa on list of 50 fattest U.S. cities”
“Takes one of your standard bucket-of-puke press releases from a fitness magazine about the ‘Fattest U.S. Cities’ and tells a story about the place he lives to give the reader — at least this reader — a laugh.”
Second place
Michele Laudig
New Times
“Sexual Personae “
“If journalism is the art of restating the cliché, Michele Laudig, who toils in the arts and entertainment section of her paper, is a latter day Van Gogh. Among her other skills, she seems to have a knack for waking the undead celebrities whose business brings them to Phoenix — movie stars, movie makers, and stage performers.”
Third place
Kelly Ettenborough
The Arizona Republic
“Canyon bounces idea of dropping ball”
“This story about the Welshman who was denied the right to drop his 2,548 pound rubber-band ball into the Grand Canyon reminded me that I haven’t read The Onion this week.”
C20. Newsfeature writing, 501-1500 words
65 entries
Judge: Ken Fuson, a feature writer for The Des Moines Register, won the American Society of Newspaper Editors award for non-deadline writing in 1998.
First place
Barbara Yost
The
Arizona Republic
“What a babe!”
“What begins as a simple tale — a mother enters her 6-month-old daughter in a beauty contest — becomes the compelling story of parental love, medical marvels and societal acceptance. This baby must wear a helmet to reshape her head, which was flattened in the back at birth. The writer’s ability to blend medical information and details of the beauty pageant into a heartwarming narrative propelled this feature to the top in a highly competitive category.”
Second place
Tom Beal
Arizona
Daily Star
“Fire chars a little piece of all Tucsonans’ hearts”
“Relying on personal memories and recollections from others, the author’s reported essay goes beyond the facts of the horrible fire in the Santa Catalina Mountains to explain the personal cost to those who loved the mountains and took ownership of them. The result is heartfelt, but not sappy, and proves quite moving. The essay helps the rest of us fully understand the depth of the community’s loss.”
Third place
Gary Nelson
East
Valley Tribune
“Grace at Second Street and Macdonald”
“A woman loses her purse and $500. A kind soul returns it. On those slender facts the writer weaves a wonderful, uplifting story that reads like an O. Henry tale. This is a perfect illustration of how a reporter with a gift for story-telling can take a seemingly small event and illustrate larger, universal truths that touch us all. Very well done.”
C21. Newsfeature writing, long form
30 entries
Judge: Tom Hallman Jr. of The Oregonian has won numerous awards for his writing including the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for feature writing.
First place
Jana Bommersbach
Phoenix
Magazine
“Murder for hire”
“A great, great story. The writer clearly knows that great writing flows from great reporting. This writer has the details that come from that kind of in-depth reporting. The opening scene is a textbook example of how to hook a reader. And the story never trails off.”
Second place
Ray Stern
East
Valley Tribune
“The tragic journey of Ana Rosa Segura-Marcial”
“He managed to put a face and a place on a story that most readers skim over. He made me think about an issue that is usually just that — an issue story built around numbers and politics. He covered all the bases, but reminded readers that the story is ultimately one about people.”
Third place
Tamara Dietrich
East
Valley Tribune
“Bringing Kolya home”
“Often times such personal stories don’t work because the story is too personal. But this writer taps into the universal themes that bind all of us a people.”
C22. Lifestyle reporting, short form
34 entries
Judge: Shawn Hubler, a staff writer for the Los Angeles Times in the paper’s San Francisco bureau, shared three Pulitzer Prizes in the 1990s as a reporter and feature writer on the Times’ metro staff.
First Place
Scott Craven
The
Arizona Republic
“Making good on a promise, D-Back’s dad donates kidney, saves a life”
“Classic human interest, with writing that was poignant without sacrificing truth or becoming maudlin. In a very small space, the reporter humanized the issue of organ donation, which is of enormous interest in many peoples' lives.”
Second Place
Angela Cara Pancrazio
The
Arizona Republic
“Saddlemakers: disappearing artists”
“The reporting was thorough, the writing was clear and the topic — the disappearing American West — is of great relevance to the Arizona lifestyle.”
Third Place
Susy Buchanan
New Times
“Chimp on his shoulder”
“A well-written and -reported piece on a beleaguered broker of exotic animals. The subject was interesting, the writing was crisp and on-point and the reporter took time to do her legwork.”
C23. Lifestyle reporting, long form
36 entries
Judge: Jon Franklin has won Pulitzer prizes for both feature writing and explanatory journalism. The author of the field’s most successful book on narrative nonfiction, “Writing for Story,” he is the Phillip Merrill Professor of Journalism at the University of Maryland.
First place
Geri Koeppel
East Valley Tribune
“Commitment: The wedding is not the icing on the cake…”
“An extremely insightful approach to a subject dear to readers’ hearts but that is rarely taken seriously by newspapers.”
Second place
Brendan Joel Kelley
New Times
“America’s Ogre of Train Bombing”
“Powerful use of detail in a story about a man on the fringes of society.”
Third place
Elena Chabolla
Arizona Daily Star
“Raising roofs”
“A story that shows the good side of humanity in a world with too little — and does it without becoming saccharine.”
C24. Personality profile
41 entries
Judge: Lane DeGregory is a feature writer for the St. Petersburg Times. She has won top awards for feature writing from the American Society of Newspaper Editors, the National Association of Black Journalists and the American Association of Sunday and Features Editors.
First place
Susy Buchanan
New Times
“A is for Artist (A is also for Arsonist)”
“’I should be dead right now,’ this story starts out. How can you not want to read that? From ‘an IV snaking out of his arm,’ to five years in a state hospital for the criminally insane, to glitzy art shows, through flaming infernos — this story takes readers on a psychological and artistic journey, into the mind and heart of a once-promising painter. The writer doesn’t hesitate to ask the hard questions; doesn’t gloss over the ugly stuff. Nor does she celebrate it, though. And, always, she seems to respect her subject. Her language is fluid. The story moves. A very illuminating look at mental illness — and the toll it takes on someone’s psyche. I loved the bleakness of the beginning, and the hope at the end.”
Second place
Amy Silverman
New Times
“Old glory”
“Gary Peter Klahr doesn’t seem like the sort of guy most people would want to read a profile about. But I got sucked in like the tuna melt he was inhaling in the lead. The nut sentence was especially juicy: ‘On May 1, the Arizona Supreme Court disbarred Klahr, stripping a guy who has never married or even dated, of the love of his life — the law.’ The writer dug under piles of paper, through court documents and law school annuals to find tidbits about this unconventional attorney. She hung out at his house, narrated his phone calls, watched him sit on his laundry. Part Rain Man, part genius, Klahr’s two sides come through as the writer explores the muddy motivations behind this messy man.”
Third place
Michelle Burgess
East Valley Tribune
“Quiet dignity”
“We begin this story at a high school track meet, move onto Africa, and wind up in suburban Arizona. This story sounds like a sports story, at first and in the end. But in between, we get to glimpse the heartache and motivation behind the skinny boy whose stillness attracts everyone’s attention. We go into his Sudan village, retelling the slaughter of his family. We follow him to a refugee camp and a one-room hut without water. He ends up in a spacious home with a host family, watching cable TV. The writer showed the boy’s curiosity, confusion and humility — through his own experiences as well as the reactions of those around him.”
Honorable mention
Craig Harris
The Arizona Republic
“Selig and baseball: A love-hate affair”
“This story starts out as a narrative, and the comments from the crowd perfectly set up the dichotomy behind ‘the most controversial man in baseball.’ We see Bud Selig walking toward a spring training game — amidst boos, cheers and challenges. The writer blends background about major league baseball and its troubles into the history of a boy growing up on Milwaukee’s west side, listening to late-night ballgames on the radio, playing street ball with his pals. Nice supporting quotes from former legislators, baseball bigwigs and family members. Who knew the commish doesn’t even have a computer?”
C25. Food reviews
28 entries
Judge: Kim Severson is a writer and critic for the San Francisco Chronicle. She has won several writing awards, including a James Beard Award for Journalism in 2000 and top honors in 2002 from the Casey Journalism Center on Children and Families for reporting on childhood obesity.
First Place
Carey Sweet
New Times
“Severe grain damage”
This is simply one of the funniest pieces of food writing I’ve read in some time. It’s tricky to do a first-person food piece with humor and attitude while actually telling the reader plenty about the food. Sweet nailed it.”
Second Place
Carey Sweet
New Times
“Even cow girl gets the blues”
“Again, the ability of the author to use