Better Newspaper Contest

Page 33 Division 3 Best In-depth Feature or Feature Package/Category 10 First Staff Daily Reporter (Greenfield) Spirit to survive An incredible package of stories of survival! Any one of these stories could finish in the top three of this competition -- the package takes the cake! Second Patrick Calvert The Courier-Times (New Castle) Overcoming homelessness; A little small land of opportunity Real nice job. Terrific individual stories take entry to new level. Third Ray Cooney The Commercial Review (Portland) National stage Very cool story, terrific sidebar and awesome photos! A seri- ous contender. Best Sports Event Coverage/Category 11 First David Campbell The Madison Courier Keselowski finishes on fumes for third Kentucky Cup win This was a very well-done piece on what was clearly a nail- biting finish. Good use of quotes by the drivers & crew chiefs involved in how the race played out. Second Val Tsoutsouris The Rochester Sentinel 'I thought about her the whole time' This story had all the info you'd expect of a well-written entry on a sensitive topic. Third Grady Tate Connersville News-Examiner Thriller in Fortville Game stories can be a tedious read. This one was any but that, with a good use of quotes throughout. Best Sports News or Feature Coverage/ Category 12 First Richard Torres Daily Reporter (Greenfield) Sticking to Her Routine The writer's excellent storytelling skills are on full display in this story about a former Olympian. Although the story is long, it held my interest as I remembered back to the Atlanta Olympics 20 years before. Kudos for a well-written "where they are now" story. Second Richard Torres Daily Reporter (Greenfield) Still Talking About It It's not always easy to get an interesting story from a talk at the library! But the writer did a great job sharing the memo- ries of this former athlete. Third Val Tsoutsouris The Rochester Sentinel Roth's final season has ring to it I loved reading this story and told my family about it. It's the kind of story that we as journalists sometimes miss. Glad this writer could share the significance of this bell. Staff Daily Reporter (Greenfield) GREENFIELD – Jeff Slinker thought he'd gotten away with it. A two-pack-a-day smoker for 25 years, Slinker kicked the habit in 2006, and six years passed with no ill effects from the substitute teacher's years of smoking. Then, in 2012, Slinker went to the dentist for a severe toothache. When the dentist extracted the tooth, he found a tumor in Slinker's jaw; doctors would later learn it was cancerous. The surgery to save Slinker's life was extensive. Parts of his upper left jaw and the roof of his mouth had to be removed, and he underwent seven weeks of radiation and chemical chemotherapy. He must wear several prosthetic mouth-pieces every day in order to talk and eat, he said. Slinker had always been secretive about his smoking habit, and at first, he kept the reason for his cancer treatment from the students he taught at Mt. Vernon High School; but those who knew his history told him his story was too important not to share. Now, Slinker travels to area schools and speaks about how he got started smoking and the effects it had on his life even after he quit. He also serves as the coach for Greenfield-Central High School's VOICE club, a state-wide anti- tobacco initiative. Slinker does an excellent job connecting with the students as he shares his story, said Nick Stadler, a health teacher at Mt. Vernon High School who encouraged him to begin speaking before teens throughout the county. Slinker smoked his first cigarette at age 10, down at the fishing hole in his small hometown in Randolph County. A group of older kids pressured him to try it – do it or you can't hang out with us, they told him. So he took up smoking – but only when he was with that group. Later, he and his family moved to New Palestine. Slinker, the new kid at school, found it difficult to make friends. So he looked for something he had in common with those around him – and smoking became a natural bridge. When Slinker got to college, he decided to see what it was like to smoke legally – and with no need to go sneaking around, he bought cigarettes more and more frequently. By the time he was a senior, he was firmly entrenched in his two-packs-a-day habit. Slinker decided to quit smoking as suddenly as he'd taken it up. He was a sixth-grade instructional assistant at the former Mt. Vernon Intermediate School, and a teacher asked him to sub for a health class covering the tobacco unit. "As we were watching the video, I thought, 'I have to tell these kids not to smoke as I'm wishing for my end-of-the-day cigarette,'" he said. "I felt like such a hypocrite." Spirit to survive: A second walk For the complete story, visit hspa.com. David Campbell The Madison Courier SPARTA, Ky. — With less than two laps to go, Brad Keselowski felt his car "stumble" and just knew, with an agonizing feeling in the bottom of his stomach, that he was out of gas. But rather than simply coast off to the side, Keselowski milked the momentum for everything it was worth, fending off Carl Edwards' late charge to win a caution-filled NASCAR Spring Cup Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway on Saturday. "I knew that we were way short (on fuel) of being able to make it, so I got as aggressive as I could and somehow, we made it," said Keselowski, who won his series- high fourth race of the season and clinched a spot in the Chase for the Sprint Cup playoffs. "I'm not even sure you can say that we made it because we ran out with about two to go. I was able to somehow limp around for two laps, stay ahead of Carl and bring it home. That was something." Keselowski spent the majority of the race trailing in the wake of the faster cars in his No. 2 Miller Lite Ford, not climbing higher than fifth until the closing laps. And, with 72 laps to go, Keselowski made what turned out to be his final pit stop, a move that nearly backfired. A record 11 cautions were waved in the first 200 laps and rarely did the field go longer than 20 laps without somebody spinning out or hitting the wall on the newly-configured and paved track. So when Keselowski pitted, he fully expected to be back on pit road at least one more time for more fuel. But the final 72 laps were caution-free and with about 20 laps to go, Keselowski's crew chief Paul Wolfe made the decision not to pit and run the rest of the race gambling on what fuel they had. "(Keselowski) does such a good job of saving fuel when we need to do that I had confidence enough that we could pull it off this way," Wolfe said. "I knew it was going to be close but that's ultimately what made it so exciting at the end." Race leaders Kevin Harvick and Marin Truex each pitted in the final 20 laps, shuffling Keselowski into the lead. But without a caution, Keselowski knew it was going to be tough to hold off the faster cars while saving fuel. Keselowski finishes on fumes for third Kentucky Cup win Sticking to Her Routine For the complete story, visit hspa.com. Richard Torres Daily Reporter (Greenfield) GREENFIELD — Jaycie Phelps couldn't sneak up on someone if she tried. The jingle of her trusty companion Coco's dog tags gives away her position almost instantly. When her middle-aged chocolate Labrador feels spry, sometimes he leads, but often, he trails alongside with her at every turn down the hallways and along the gym floor inside the Jaycie Phelps Athletic Center in Greenfield. "He was a rescue," Phelps explains while Coco finds a cozy spot to lay down next to her feet. "I've had him since he was a little over 1 year old." The unofficial JPAC mascot, Coco, much like Phelps, rarely stands still for more than a few minutes. Even when Phelps is working with one of her competitive gymnasts, she's moving — spotting, guiding and teaching. About 700 kids ranging from preschool age to 18 pass through the doors each week, so staying busy is like breathing for the owner and head coach along with her husband and co-founder Dave Marus. "It's been fun to come in and bring a new level of gymnastics to the area," Phelps said with more than a dozen team state championship banners for Level 2 through 10 gymnastics hanging from the wall behind her. "It's a facility where kids can train and get exercise with recreational play." The 25,000-square-foot center provides ample space for rising elite hopefuls to tumble and twist. Phelps and Marus opened the building in August 2010 with the assistance of her father and co- founder Jack Phelps. It's taken off ever since. Part of their success stems from the style the two seasoned gymnastic coaches bring to the mats. Another is the name out front above the door. "When I first walked in, I wasn't really sure what to expect," said Kailee Ferguson, 17, a Level 10 gymnast that's been at JPAC the past six years. "Now, I just think of (Jaycie) as a regular person." If someone didn't know better, they would assume the same about Phelps — until you catch a glimpse of the multiple framed and autographed posters and photos in the waiting and parent viewing areas. Each print serves as a window into the past, 20 years to be exact, when Phelps and Team USA achieved the improbable during the Atlanta Summer Olympics in 1996. "I keep my medal in a drawer in my nightstand," Phelps quipped with a broad smile. "For safe keeping." For the complete story, visit hspa.com.

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