Better Newspaper Contest

Page 32 Division 3 Headline Writing/Category 7 First Staff Daily Reporter (Greenfield) All hands-on tech Back in the games Draft picks Succinct headlines, and all three were very creative plays on words; "Back in the game" and "draft picks", especially, caught me by surprise and left me smiling Second Val Tsoutsouris The Rochester Sentinel Volley of the sun Hall-most Fame-ous Soph far, Soph good Third Staff The Tribune (Seymour) Top of her field Book, line & sinker Local fixture Best Short Feature Story/ Category 8 First Andrew Crowley The Reporter Times Mother meets daughter given up for adoption Easy read, great graphics, wonderful story, love the second page and the entire package was awesome. Winner all the way around. Second Elizabeth Wyman The Rochester Sentinel Suttons hit the open road: Couple to race for 9 days Writer did an amazing job keeping the story on local people and not the event. I wonder if they made it and all the fun along the way. Great story. Third Brett Eppley The Madison Courier She said 'Yes' Loved the happy ending. Great story and love that a reporter jumped on this subject prior to them leaving town. Best Profile Feature/Category 9 First Caitlin VanOverberghe Daily Reporter (Greenfield) She loved, and she loved big The lead of the story was very strong, firstly, and the reporter got quotes from three sources, weaving them into a portrait that gave an excellent feel for the personality of the high school car crash victim. The story was expertly written, flowed well and had all the elements of first-rate writing. Second Jess Cohen Vincennes Sun-Commercial First-grader gets 'honorary' job to buy presents for other kids This was just a delightful story, with a good hook at the begin- ning, great use of descriptions of the boy's work ethic, and quotes that gave a fine portrait of the boy. Just a great, well written portrait. Third Caitlin VanOverberghe Daily Reporter (Greenfield) Raising her voice A very strong personality feature that hooked me from the begin- ning and kept my interest throughout. Written with a natural skill and ease that revealed the talent of the reporter. Mother meets daughter given up for adoption Staff Daily Reporter (Greenfield) All hands-on tech Back in the games Draft picks She loved, and she loved big Andrew Crowley The Reporter Times Pam Bland never stopped thinking about the baby girl she gave birth to 52 years ago on April 14. She never had another child after her daughter. It's some thing that ran in the family Bland was only child of an only child, a norm going back four generations. Bland, now 71, lives at Grand- view Health and Rehab Center in Martinsville. When she was 19 and pregnant, she went to Florida to stay with her grandparents until she gave birth and ultimate ly gave her child up for adoption. She wondered what had hap- pened to her daughter. How did things turn out? Was she happy? Did she have a good life? Did she ever wonder where she came from? Nearly 30 years ago, when Bland was 43, she hired a private investiga tor to travel to Jackson- ville, Florida, to track down her daughter. The P.I. spent four or five months attempting to find her, but to no avail: the daughter could not be located. Her adoptive parents had an unlisted number. Florida state law is also very restrictive about adoption records - that information is sealed, and releasing it requires the signatures of both parents. Bland had given birth to her daughter, Donna McMurray, on April 14, 1965, during Holy Week. Easter fell on April 18 that year. Everything changed about a month ago when Eland's cousin Kathy White contacted her. "I asked her, 'What's coming up this week?"' White said. "She said, 'Well, Easter.' I said, 'Anything else, Pam?' And she said, 'My baby girl was born April 14.' And I said, 'Would you like to meet your baby girl?' And she broke out in hysterics when she heard." Tracking the family tree Donna began her search for her birth mother after signing up for 23andMe, a web-based service that allows cus tomers to send in a DNA sample, have it analyzed and receive information about their heritage. It also allows users to get in con tact with distant relatives. Donna used it because she was interested in learning her health history. Her adoptive parents died more than two decades ago, so unsealing her adoption records wasn't an option. "The DNA background gave us about 1,200 DNA relatives, and the file that we downloaded gave us one common name: Mul lens," said John McMur ray, Donna's husband. They reached out to a second cousin, Cynthia Bender, and explained how important the search was to Donna. Bender said her maiden name was Mullens. That led the McMurrays back to the family tree on Donna's biological father's side. For the complete story, visit hspa.com. Caitlin VanOverberghe Daily Reporter (Greenfield) GREENFIELD — Sarah Overby hated wearing shoes. She'd walk the halls of Greenfield-Central High School barefoot, her toes flat against the tile, never giving it a second thought. Her friends say it's how she felt most comfortable, as if she couldn't bear to have anything come between her and the world around her — not even the soles of her sneakers. She was quirky, they say, a bit of a hippy even. But at the same time, she was sensible and grounded — she had a plan for every idea others might have considered far-fetched. She dreamed of traveling the globe, of meeting new people and learning from them, learning about them. And she was willing to work hard, make her own way. Nothing could stand between her and the world. She had such a presence, even at her young age, they say. Now, they're trying to deal with a sense of shock that has settled over them at her loss. Overby, a 17-year-old Greenfield native, died in a car crash early Tuesday on the county's north side. She and three friends — who survived and are still recovering at area hospitals — were driving toward Greenfield when the driver missed a curve in the roadway and struck a utility pole. Overby died at the scene. Wednesday, before heading to their first class of the morning, hundreds of Greenfield-Central students gathered outside the school for a brief vigil in Overby's honor. Wearing shades of yellow and light blue — Overby's favorite colors — they marched into school together in near silence, many holding hands, some in tears. Though Overby was a junior at the high school, she was set to graduate this spring with the senior class. She was a bright student who worked hard to earn enough credits to reach that teenage milestone a year ahead of schedule. Choir director Paul Grizzard remembers the day midway through this school year when Overby came bounding into his classroom, a bright smile on her face, and proclaimed she was officially a senior. She was so proud of herself for having achieved that goal. After graduating, Overby wanted to travel, friend Josh Taeger said. She planned to visit Europe and South Africa and Asia. She planned on embedding herself in different cultures and working until she had enough money to move on to the next place. She talked about those dreams with her friends and teachers often, never once expressing the fear of the future many her age feel. She couldn't wait. Keeping her in school another year "was like keeping a bird locked in cage," Taeger said. "She wanted to fly." Once the students were inside Wednesday, and most had settled into their classrooms, Principal Steve Bryant asked over the PA system for a moment of silence in Overby's memory. The halls fell quiet; even the few stragglers still on their way to class stopped in their tracks to stand for a minute in the silence. "She handled every situation with a smile," Bryant said, his voice booming through the school. Overby was drawn to the arts. She was heavily involved in the school's choir and drama departments, and she took extra English classes to practice her creative writing. She often encouraged her friends and classmates to get involved as well, to turn to music, the stage, the page to express themselves as she did. "She was a leader, and she led by example," Grizzard said. "She wanted to be a positive influence on everyone around her." Her classmates recognized that and often turned to Overby for advice, English teacher Mindy Weaver-Flask said. She taught the creative writing class Overby enrolled in at Greenfield-Central. Overby loved to listen to others' writing as much as she loved to put pen to paper herself, and she had an uncanny ability of empathizing with others as they worked to put their feelings into words. Overby never missed a chance to help her classmates better themselves, Weaver-Flask said. She was blunt — but in the kindest, most beautiful way. And her classmates loved her for it, seeking her out to edit their pieces before they handed an assignment in, she said. For the complete story, visit hspa.com.

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