Better Newspaper Contest

2014 Award Winners

Hoosier State Press Association - The Indiana Publisher - Better Newspaper Contest

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Page 51 Division 5 Headline Writing/Category 7 First place Hip, hip, puree; Reborn to be wild; The call behind the curtain Emily Carroll Journal & Courier (Lafayette) Comments: Might have been scored even higher if word puree hadn't been repeated in the deck. Other two heds also very strong and well-displayed. Second place Fish shtick; Moo lighting; Let's go in style Deb Sprong The Elkhart Truth Comments: Moo lighting the essence of simplicity, and only a space where the N should be to make it almost perfect. Nice. Others were just OK. Third place Misunderstanding & misfire: NRA alert put city on defense; Opposition, indecision leave 2 farm proposals HOG-TIED; He's the Baum: Sophomore slugger ignites Bull Dogs' explosive offense Staff The Republic (Columbus) Comments: Solid entries, work well with decks. Best Short Feature Story/Category 8 First place Family's birthday card gets heavy use John Carlson The Star Press (Muncie) Comments: The writer's great use of descriptive language and well-chosen quotes demonstrated how the family inter- acted together and how the card represented the family's personalities. I felt like I was sitting having coffee with the family. Second place Elkhart father touched by violence speaks out Dan Spalding The Elkhart Truth Comments: A compellingly layered story about an active and passionate community member that smartly put a human face on a community issue and demonstrated how citizens caring can make a difference. Third place My fiery valentine Julie McClure The Republic (Columbus) Comments: Good story structure, descriptive writing turned what could have been routine event coverage into a touch- ing, funny read that wasn't saccharine and left you with a smile. Best Profile Feature/Category 9 First place Softer side Jon Blau The Herald-Times (Bloomington) Comments: A deep portrait that reveals a lot of insight into an important person in the community. Second place The flying unicyclist Kelly Lafferty Kokomo Tribune Comments: What a fun read! I really enjoyed learning about this interesting person, and it was just the right length to keep a reader going. Third place Gone: Nothing remains of homestead whose 88-year- old owner battled I-69 until her dying day Laura Lane The Herald-Times (Bloomington) Comments: A sad story that gets deeper into the hidden side of progress and development. Family's birthday card gets heavy use • Hip, hip, puree • Reborn to be wild • The call behind the curtain Emily Carroll Journal & Courier (Lafayette) Softer side John Carlson The Star Press (Muncie) Let's face it, $2.25 was a pretty hefty sum to pay for a birthday card nine years ago, but nobody can say the seven Barrett siblings haven't gotten the most out of their investment. They've been sending that same card to each other since 2005, which was also the year that family matriarch Mary Barrett died. "I thought we needed something to give us a pick- me-up," recalled Jill Bartle, who is one of those Barrett siblings, who range in age from 55 to 75. "I just thought it was time for something different to do." As Jill spoke, she was sitting at her dining room table, upon which a bounty of baked goods was placed, along with a variety of coffee mugs. Within reach of each mug sat a sibling or in-law, including Jill's husband, Dave; her sister, Mary Jane James; her sister-in-law, Jaunita Barrett; her brother, Carroll Barrett; another sister-in-law, Sandy Barrett; her brother, Ronnie Barrett, and her sister, Beth Smith. Missing were her sister, Karen Dodd, and her husband, Bob; her sister, Jackie Stephens, and her husband, Jay, and Mary Jane's husband, Randy. Still, the missing family members notwithstanding, this was a boisterous, happy group. "A lot of people," said Jaunita, "think we're ... "Loud," interjected Sandy, drawing a chorus of laughter. Jaunita had meant to say "unusual." "If everybody was here, you wouldn't be able to hear anything," Sandy added. Meanwhile, amidst the coffee mugs, sweet bread and brownies, stood the card. With a colorful, sort of cartoon-like front, it read, "You can yell and scream about another birthday – but there's no getting out of it." Opening the card and looking closely, the highlighted inside reads, "like when someone flushes the toilet and you're in the shower." "It was humorous," Jill said, explaining why she chose it to send to Carroll for the first time. "It sounded like us." Then it began making the rounds, which is the reason you had to look closely to read it. After nine years of use, handwritten greetings seem to cover every square inch. "We're going to have to add a page in here," Carroll observed, leading Mary Jane to note that because it's so full, "It takes a while sometimes (to find the new birthday message)." But then For complete story, see www.hspafoundation.org. Click on "Contests." Jon Blau The Herald-Times (Bloomington) When he got the news, it was no surprise Fred Cate was at an airport. A flight for congressional testimony in Washington, D.C., is followed by a board meeting at Microsoft headquarters in Seattle, which is followed by a conference with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris. The data revolution calls because he arrived in the right time and place – an expert on privacy and the law in the age of Edward Snowden and the National Security Agency. But years before Americans would hear the name Snowden, Beth Cate met her husband at the Charlotte airport and delivered news of a different sort. "Snowflake died." "People passing by," Fred Cate remembers. "They must have thought I had lost a loved one." The world's weightiest struggles with technology and "Big Brother" are one thing; the death of a pet gerbil is another. The man directing the Center for Applied Cybersecurity Research at Indiana University comes to the airport armed with suits and ties and a cool command of intellectual debate, but he leaves the fray with his sensitivity intact. He loves animals – big and small, real or imaginary. He tells time with a Winnie the Pooh wristwatch, a timepiece prone to slip out from under his left sleeve during committee hearings. He has collected thousands of stuffed animals, travel companions during long flights to and from meetings. Because of his crammed schedule, there is no place for live pets at the Cates' Bloomington home these days, but they dote over an elephant and an Alaskan brown bear they "parent" at the Indianapolis Zoo. Cate doesn't take himself too seriously, but he's an internationally respected voice in his field. The powerful listen as he tells them uncomfortable truths about invading privacy. The Transportation Security Administration placed hundreds of body scanners in airports; too bad, Cate said, they do more to show someone naked than to root out terrorism. Governments use metadata to pre-empt wrongdoers; but remember, Cate said, data can be misinterpreted. Despite all his thinking, there is no keeping up with a bullet train of technological advances. At some point, between the flights, the briefings and the lectures, he withdraws back to his other life. That life has its quirks. Even as Beth Cate utters the name Snowflake years after the gerbil's death, Fred Cate walks out of the living room, unsure of his composure. Snowflake started out as a neighbor's For complete story, see www.hspafoundation.org. Click on "Contests."

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